Merlin's Box
by dismiss
Summary: Hermione uses a mythical device that changes her identity and transports her back to the Marauders era. An eleven year old Hermione Rose Evans will do anything in her power to prevent the future she came from. AU. Eventual HGSB, JPLE. Romance/Comedy/Drama.
1. Chapter 1- The Box

**A/N: Hey, guys! Before you start, I just want to clear one thing up. Hermione will be more confident and sarcastic in this fanfic. Sorry about that. I know it's a bit OOC; I just feel that it's necessary. I mean, having knowledge of the future would do that to a person, wouldn't it? Okay, I think that's it. Let me know, if you have any questions, complaints, or suggestions. Compliments are preferred, but criticism is always welcome (and will be analysed). Thank you :)**

**Random note: I do not, by all means, am trying to imply that the idea of Hermione going back in time and starting all over is original (there are a lot of fanfictions that start this way). This story was inspired by all of the Hermione time-travel fics. In particular, I would like to thank the authors of Roundabout Destiny and the Thief of Time for inspiring me. If you guys haven't read them – do (although, the author of the Thief of Time stopped uploading in 2009, after 10 chapters). I've read the Thief of Time a couple of years ago, and the idea was really interesting (though I don't think Harry would ever sacrifice Hermione for selfish reasons, but maybe I misunderstood it). It was, after all, one of the first fics to take that direction. Moreover, it, most definitely, was the first story portraying Hermione as Lily's twin. However, Roundabout destiny was the story that inspired me to write one of my own. Seeing Hermione as a really strong character was refreshing. Originally, I wanted Hermione to travel back to Voldemort's time (which is the story that I will probably write afterwards), but I love Hermione/Sirius pairing too much. On the other note, the plot of this story IS my original idea, and I hope you will like it.**

**Disclaimer: As much as I would love to, I do not own anything you recognise.**

* * *

**Merlin's Box**

Chapter 1 – The Box

She's been searching and preparing for ages. Three long years, if one cared enough to count. Hell, she couldn't even say the word 'research' anymore, it made her sick. Hmm, wasn't that ironic? Miss little know-it-all, _the _bookworm, fed up with her studies. Hermione would have laughed, if it wasn't so damn sad. She must have read all the books in the wizarding world, watched every single memory even remotely connected to Voldemort, and mastered both wandless and nonverbal magic (as well as every imaginable duel technique). Not to mention the physical training nightmare she had to go through. To sum up, Hermione was annoyed, irritated, tired, and completely exhausted. But she was close, so bloody close. Therefore, she refused to give up now, not when she finally knew and had everything needed to change this mess. There was only one thing left to do.

Hermione said her goodbyes and focused on the three D's.

* * *

The cottage looked just as it did three years ago – as if someone took it out of the muggle fairy tale and put it there. It was literally the house that Hermione imagined every time her mom read her a bed-time story with a witch in it. It simply screamed the word 'magic' at you. Then again, maybe Hermione just looked at it differently because she knew who used to live there. Of course, it wasn't like the current owner was any less.. _intriguing_. Ah, Mrs. Aurora Gamp. She held a lot of respect in Hermione's heart. After all, Aurora managed to give her much needed hope; even if it was done in the most unconventional way.

Before Hermione had time to take a trip down the memory lane, the doors swung open, and, just like three years ago, Mrs. Gamp stepped out. She was wearing an emerald green gown that emphasised her red lips and abnormally curly blond hair. However, this time it was not irritation Hermione saw in those captivating green eyes, but rather recognition and excitement.

"Ah, Hermione, long time no see! Please, do come in." Aurora greeted her.

She led Hermione to the living room, where they settled on the couch in front of the fireplace. Hermione saw two cups of tea already waiting for them on the coffee table nearby. _Impressive. _She also noticed the way Aurora was eyeing her up and down. _Hmm, maybe it wasn't such a great idea to drop by unannounced. She doesn't seem too happy about it._

"Good afternoon, Mrs. Gamp. I apologize for not sending an owl in advance." Hermione started.

"Oh, don't worry, Hermione, it's great to have you here." Aurora waved her off. "But if I might add, you look rather tired. How are you, my child?" She added after a pause. There was an obvious concern in her eyes. _Hell, I must look way worse than I thought._

"I don't think you would like my honest answer, so I am just going to settle on 'fine'." Hermione answered with a sad smile. "And how are you today, Mrs. Gamp?" She added quickly.

"I'm rather well, thank you, dear." Mrs. Gamp answered and Hermione was instantly reminded of Mrs. Weasley. "Now, am I right to assume that this is not a social visit and you're finally ready?" She put in.

Was Hermione ready? She did not know. She thought about it a lot in the past few years. To be perfectly honest, how can you be ready to alter the history? How can you be ready to feel responsible for all of the changes? Though it couldn't get any worse, could it? _Not likely_. Then again, was 'not likely' enough? Was she prepared to risk everything for the possibility of a new and brighter future? _Yes_. The answer was rather obvious. It was the _only_ answer, really. The alternative was simply not acceptable. Too many people have died for her to feel scared and cautious. She was ready.

Seeing Hermione's nod, Aurora smiled brightly and exclaimed, "Let's go!"

Hermione followed her. She couldn't help but laugh at the eagerness of the older witch. After all, she was just as excited. Terrified, of course, but excited nonetheless. This was it. This was where, hopefully, all of her hard work, tears, and pain would pay off. She has been waiting for this opportunity since the day Harry died.

_-__**Flashback**__-_

_Harry Potter was killed. Five years after he defeated the darkest wizard to ever walk on this earth, Harry Potter was killed by the very same brainless idiot he once helped to save – Gregory Goyle. Apparently, Harry was walking down the Diagon alley with his heavily pregnant wife Ginevra, when, all of a sudden and seemingly out of nowhere, Goyle appeared and started shouting some nonsense about everything being Harry's fault, adding how he deserved to suffer as much as Goyle did (later on it was discovered, that Goyle's wife left him for a muggleborn wizard Justin Finch-Fletchey). He then shot the killing curse in Ginny's direction. However, before anyone had time to react, Harry jumped in front of his wife and took the hit. And that was it. That was the end of Harry Potter._

_Nobody could believe it. It just wasn't fair. How, for the sake of Merlin, could this have happened? How could Harry Potter, a.k.a. the boy-who-lived, the chosen one, the youngest head auror in the century, and the savior of the wizarding world, have been killed by Gregory Goyle, a.k.a. the guy who wasn't even capable of spelling his own surname? And during the time of peace… Ridiculous! But then again, it _was_ understandable. Everyone knew that Harry would have sacrificed anything if it meant Ginny's safety, not to mention the safety of their son. And, as a head auror, he would have known that there was no other scenario in which Ginny would survive without harming the child. She couldn't just jump out of the way; she _was_ seven months pregnant, after all._

_Harry's death changed everything. For some reason, the Death Eaters considered Harry to be the only reason they couldn't avenge their Dark Lord and gain the power once more. Therefore, when that obstacle was removed, they decided to try again._

_The next four years, were the worst England has ever seen. It was better when Voldemort was in power. At least _his_ attacks were planned and targeted specific people. There was a possibility to stop them, before anyone was hurt. Plus, he was the leader of the dark side. That meant that with his death, all would end. And it did. But now… the only word to describe this was 'chaos'. Attacks were random. To be honest, they weren't even attacks. More often than not, Death Eaters were killing out of boredom. Consequently, people were killed for visiting the Diagon Alley at the wrong time. Nobody knew what was happening; they just knew to be ready at all times. But the worst of it all was that nobody knew how to stop it. It didn't matter how many Death Eaters were captured, they just kept going and slaughtering people. World was becoming a dark place where wizards would get scared of their own shadows. It wasn't great for the Death Eaters either. Not that many wizards on the 'light' side still played with stunning or disarming spells. New motto of the wizarding world was 'kill or be killed'._

_The saddest thing was that both sides just wanted for it all to end, but neither one of them wanted to give up._

_When Hermione wasn't fighting, she was trying to find something that could end this. She was thinking on the lines of some kind of mass-memory-alteration type of thing, or a way to capture all people with the same tattoos at once. Needless to say, she didn't have much luck. But she never gave up. Once she was done at Hogwarts, she continued in the Black family library. She didn't even care that most of the books there were as dark as it gets. If she found something useful, she would use it. Her moral compass broke a long time ago and she was pretty desperate._

_Despite her determination, she couldn't find anything of use. Most of the books were talking about torture or poisons of some sort. Nothing she couldn't find in the restricted section at Hogwarts. She was quite disappointed. All that was left were some legends, myths, and that sort of stuff._

_Not expecting much, she opened 'Magical Myths and Lost Treasures'. It was a long shot, but a shot nonetheless. The book discussed most of the real and mythical valuables with magical properties. It included descriptions of founders' relics, as well as some of the more practical devices, such as time-turners. Suddenly, her eyes focused on one particular page and it became hard to breathe. Was it what she thought it was?_

**MERLIN'S BOX**

**CREATOR****: Merlin (allegedly).**

**MAIN PURPOSE****: Time travel and alteration of history.**

**FIRST MENTION:********_A Story of a Young Muggle-Born Named Arthur_****(Geoffrey Pendragon, 1138).**

**SIGNIFICANCE****: Differently from other devices, Merlin's Box is thought to be the only mechanism capable of avoiding any and all time travel paradoxes.**

**CONFIRMED USERS****: None.**

**SUSPECTED USERS****: King Arthur, Edwin Malory, Baba Yaga, Pontus Telchine.**

**SUSPECTED PROBLEMS****: Only five boxes were made; the user can only use the device once; no possibility of coming back; time period travelled is, most likely, chosen by The Box; new identity is chosen by The Box; The Box is capable of refusing service, if it considers the user unworthy.**

**EXPECTED LOCATION****: According to the legend, "One has to go to the place where the finest student of the greatest four, has lost his heart to the woman on the other shore."**

**DISCLAIMER****_: Provided information has not been confirmed, and is provided solely for learning purposes._**

_Hermione was flabbergasted. She stayed on the couch, eyes still transfixed on the page, for what seemed like an hour. When she finally realised what all of that meant, she couldn't believe her luck. This was what she was looking for. They could change it, all of it. Well, no. Hermione would have to change it. She was the only one who could._

_She would kill Voldemort, before he even became powerful. Dumbledore, Snape, Fred, Lupin, Tonks, Sirius, George, Harry, and countless others would get a second chance at happiness. _She_ would get a chance at happiness._

_Of course, there were some major flaws in her plan. For one, if she understood correctly, nobody knew if the thing actually worked. It was featured in a legend, for Merlin's sake. Then again, if Hermione learned one thing from legends, it was that they were always at least partly true. But even if the Box actually existed, what were the chances that there was a single Box left? There were four suspected users already. Plus, how could Hermione know whether or not the Box would consider her _worthy?_ And she couldn't even know how far back the damn thing would send her anyway. And what did the 'identity change' mean?_

_There were way too many questions and no reassurances whatsoever. But it was the only way to change something, wasn't it? She could either put all her effort and hope into this, or keep on trying to survive, and pray for the current madness to end. For her, the latter wasn't even an option._

_Hermione took her wand out and conjured a messenger patronus._

_"Ron, get everyone and meet me at 5pm in the Grimmauld's Place. I found something." Hermione said quickly and dismissed her otter._

_She didn't know why she said 'everyone'. Only a handful of people from the order were still alive. To clear up, the following meeting would involve five people – Ginny, Ron, Hermione, Bill, and Arthur. Not the best action team, if she was being honest, but it was all they had._

* * *

_"Hermione, I don't think that this is such a good idea. Maybe we should focus on changing the present." Bill started when Hermione finished her story and showed them the book. "I understand where you are coming from, but this would be too risky. You wouldn't even know how far back it would send you." He continued. "Perhaps, if you are so keen on time travel, we could think of another way to do this." He added after seeing Hermione's furious expression. "We just need to talk things out and we will have a plan of action in no time. Focusing on the box would just be a waste of time."_

_"This meeting is a waste of time!" Hermione all but shouted. "I thought you guys would be thrilled to know that there could be a way to stop everything; to start all over. Time travel is our only hope and you know it." Hermione could feel the anger rising. "And what do you mean 'another way to do this'? Do you honestly believe that we know all the theories and concepts behind the time travel, not to mention the means for it, to actually-"_

_"What about a time turner?" Ron interrupted. "I mean, I know the Ministry said that they were all destroyed, but I bet there is at least one left somewhere, right 'Mione? Or we could make one!" His voice echoed through the room. For some reason Ron seemed to be proud of his little 'revelation'. _Idiot. No wonder, we didn't last long as a couple.

_"Ron," Hermione said while rubbing her temples and wondering how long it will take for her to completely lose it. "Since I am your friend, I will not laugh in your face and hex your pants off for the rude interruption, but explain why that idea is not even worth to be called an 'idea'." _Breathe, Hermione, breathe. Being mean won't get you far. _"First of all, no, there are NO time turners left. Second of all, it would take about a year to make a fully functional time turner and the slightest miscalculation could lead to a horrible death while attempting to use it. Finally, even if we _miraculously _found a time turner lying on the ground or took the time to make a successful one, it wouldn't change a thing. You want to know why? Because a time-turner can only go back twenty-four hours and that WOULD NOT FIX OUR PROBLEMS, NOW WOULD IT, RONALD?!" She shouted. _So much for being nice.

_"Okay, guys, calm down." Mr. Weasley interrupted. "This is not the time for arguments. We have to stay strong, if we want to stay alive. Now, Hermione," He focused his attention on the girl. "Your idea, risky as it might be, could be the best option we have." Sensing Bill's disapproving look, he added, "I think we should at least investigate whether or not it is possible to do it. Do you have any idea, how we could determine the location of the Box?" He asked Hermione._

_"I already have." She started with a hint of pride in her voice, all anger forgotten. "It was kind of easy, really. The 'finest student of the greatest four' is obviously Merlin. Everyone knows that he went to Hogwarts and was taught by the founders themselves." Arthur and the others nodded at that. It was a well-known fact that the students of Hogwarts were quite proud of. "The second part confused me, though." She continued. "I couldn't understand any of it for a long time. And then it all clicked. You see, the author used muggle references in the hint. If you looked into the wizarding literature, there is not much said about Merlin's personal life, not to mention his love life. In the muggle legends, however, Merlin was in love with Vivien of Avalon, also known as the Lady of the Lake, or in this case, 'the woman on the other shore'." She cleared up. "In the end, after he taught her all that he knew, she killed him and became the most powerful witch of that time. The full story has quite a few different versions, but this is the outline."_

_"So we need to look for the place where he was killed?" Arthur tried to follow._

_"We could, but I think that would be a mistake" She answered. "I believe that when the author said 'lost his heart', he meant 'gave it away'. I think we need a place, where Merlin fell in love with Vivien. And, according to the legend, that would be the Lake Avalon. I suppose that's why he used the shore reference." Hermione added thoughtfully._

_"Alright. It seems that you've covered almost everything." Arthur smiled. "All that we need to do now is decide who should be the one to do this. If I understood correctly, there might be only one Box left-"_

_"I'll do it." Ginny suddenly stood up, surprising everyone. "I should be the one to fix it. All of this is my fault anyway. I am the reason we even need to go back."_

_"Ginny, do not blame yourself for Harry's death." Hermione said, before anyone else had time to react. "If you want to blame anyone, blame Goyle. He was the one who cast the curse. You had nothing to do with it, so don't you dare take the blame or try and sacrifice yourself." She added. "Plus, it wouldn't work anyway, because I am the one who has to do it."_

_"Why does it _have_ to be you?" Ron asked. "Just because you found the information, you don't have to be the one to go."_

_"Yes, I do. Don't you see? I am the only person in here, who has nothing to lose." She said ignoring Ron's protests. "All of you would lose much more if you chose to do this. Think about it." She added and looked at the youngest Weasley. "Ginny, if you did this, you probably would lose a chance to be with Harry ever again, to have James. I cannot let you do this to yourself." Hermione told her and turned to the others. It was sad to think that out of all of them, she was the only one with nothing going on in her life. She was twenty seven years old, and was loved only by her cat. She tried to blame it on the war, but everyone else seemed capable of living their lives despite everything. Even Ron and Luna got together and were expecting their second child. She had no one._

_But now was not the time to cry about her life._

_"As I was saying, I will be the one to go." She said after a pause. "That is, if the Box will consider me 'worthy'. If not, then we will have this discussion again." Hermione finished with an authoritative tone._

_"Are you sure about this?" Arthur asked. "It is a big commitment."_

_"I am sure." Hermione replied annoyed. She was still, in spite of everything, the brightest witch of her age. Of course she knew how big this was. "But let's not get ahead of ourselves, shall we? We don't even know if the box works." She continued. "I will go to the Lake and see if there is anything there that could give us more information. Afterwards, I will report back. Is that alright with everyone?"_

_After everyone reluctantly agreed, she thanked them and went to get her things. She decided to leave straight away. Staying here any longer would only give others more opportunities to try and talk her out of going._

_Once she had everything, Hermione apparated to Hogsmeade. It was the closest place to the Lake Avalon that she could imagine clearly enough for apparition. Once she was there, she went to the Hog's Head and borrowed a broom. Flying was the fastest way to get there._

_It was funny how much Hermione has changed since the Second War. She became the epitome of bravery. She knew that in order to survive and save lives, she had to throw away all her fears. Therefore, the girl who was once too scared to even look at the broom was long gone._

_It wasn't a big step, though. Once she got over her initial fear of heights, Hermione enjoyed flying quite a bit. And she was good at it too. She wasn't scared to go as fast as was possible; plus, due to her knowledge of Physics, she could avoid the hardest obstacles without slowing down. It helped her to avoid death many times in the past few years._

_After mounting the broom and casting a few spells (which included all kinds of safety, cushioning and muggle repellent charms), she started her long journey._

* * *

_She was walking around the lake for what seemed to be an eternity. There was nothing out of the ordinary. She even jumped into the stupid thing. Nothing! How was that possible? She was so sure it was here. How could she save the world, if she couldn't even solve a simple riddle?_

_Hermione was almost ready to apparate home, cry, and start all over, when she noticed the passage that led to a forest nearby._

"_Please be it, please be it."_ _She repeated the sentence like a mantra on her way there._

_After a few minutes of walking down the path, it let her to a cottage-type house. The sight made Hermione's jaw drop._

"_Oh, that's definitely it." She concluded._

_Hermione couldn't understand what made the house so spectacular. It did have peculiar features, i.e. triangle shaped windows, and the oddly shaped plants/flowers all around that were definitely not the typical _floras _of a simple forest in Scotland. It made it look like a fairy-tale house. You could know that there was something strange going on in here, just by looking at it._

_Amused, she reached the door and knocked on it three times. What really surprised her was that the door opened straight away and a woman's voice invited her in._

_Once she was inside, she noticed the woman sitting in the living room on her left. She looked amazing. The woman had a navy blue robe on, and her make-up was flawless. Even her hair seemed to make the woman look as a goddess, albeit as bushy and curly, as Hermione's once were. The only thing that didn't seem right, was the expression in her face as she looked at Hermione. The woman was shamelessly eyeing Hermione up and down, while her eyes showed obvious disapproval and irritation._

_"What do you want?" The woman asked straight away._

_"Oh. Um, hello." Hermione started hesitantly. "My name is Hermione Granger. I came here today to ask you about the Merlin's Box." The last part sounded more as question._

_"Merlin's Box? You don't say" The woman replied sarcastically. "And what would you like to know about the said device?" She said in a tone that one would use only in a presence of a child._

_"I have quite a few questions, actually." Hermione answered with a new found confidence. She didn't appreciate the woman's manners; however, she had to be nice, if she wanted to see the Box at some point._

_"Let's hear them then." The woman challenged her with an amused expression. It seemed as if Hermione's confidence made the woman respect her more._

_"Alright." Hermione put in and took a deep breath before speaking. "Are there any boxes left? Can more than one person use the Box? How does it avoid all of the paradoxes? What does the 'new identity' mean? Is it possible to choose how far back you can travel? How does the Box determine whether a person is worthy? Is it painful? And Finally, Who are you?" Hermione finished with no air in her lungs._

_"You know, I'm starting to like you, child." The woman laughed. "Take a seat. I'll get you something to drink and we'll start." She added._

_Once Hermione was seated and had a cup of tea in her hands, the woman continued. "Well, first of all, my Name is Mrs. Aurora Gamp. I am the guardian of Merlin's Boxes, as well as a current resident of this house. It used to belong to Vivien of Avalon, and that is why the Boxes were all in here." She paused to see if Hermione understood what she was talking about. After Hermione's nod, she continued. "Now, there is only one box left and, unfortunately, it can only serve one person." She added with a sad smile. "Okay, next question." Aurora continued. "The paradox stuff is rather hard to explain, but I will try my best. You see, when a person uses the Box, his soul and magic is transported. The user finds himself in a new body. The new body should be of the same gender, and have a few similar features, but most of it would be different. Merlin called it the 'fresh start factor'." Mrs. Gamp chuckled. "I guess that also answers your identity question." She added. "And yes, once the old memories hit the new body, it would most likely result in a relatively painful migraine for around half an hour. But it's noting a normal person couldn't handle." She shrugged. "Anyway, continuing with the paradoxes. Think about the box as about a mechanism that creates a new reality, without the original you in it. In other words, you were born in the time the Box chose for you, and that's it." Aurora said as if all of that made perfect sense. "And no, you cannot choose which year you are going to. You will only find that out, once you're already there." She put in. "There are some good news, though." She added seeing Hermione's obvious disappointment. "The Box will not put the user in a time that would not be relevant to the reason he was seeking the box in the first place. Let me use a simple example for this." Aurora added quickly, after Hermione gave her a questioning look. "If you wanted to use the box, because your favorite uncle lost his wand when he was five, the box would not send you back further than when you couldn't prevent that from happening. It would, however, choose a period in that time range, which would suit your personal needs, and the needs of those around you the most. Basically, it puts you in the time you want, as well as the time you're needed in. Is that clear?" She asked._

_"Yes actually. Thank you." Hermione answered._

_"That's great." Aurora smiled. "Now, the 'worthy' part is the easiest one to explain." She continued. "The Box simply searches your mind for the required qualities, i.e. compassion, determination, intelligence, etc. Simple, really." She waved it off. After a second, her face lit up with excitement. "Now, I think that's it. Would you like to see the box?"_

_Hermione nodded enthusiastically and followed Mrs. Gamp to the room further down the corridor._

_When she finally saw the Box, she couldn't help but feel a little bit disappointed. Hermione expected something grand and magnificent. Like the house. Instead, there was a medium-sized, simple-looking, black metal, cubic-shaped box. It had some carving on it, but it was nothing significant. And then a thought hit Hermione. Who cares how the Box looked? It could help her change the history. Once she realised that, the Box seemed to become much more precious looking._

_"Okay, Hermione. Just put your hands on the Box and we will see if you can use it" Mrs. Gamp looked at the girl expectantly. When she saw Hermione's hesitant expression, she continued. "Don't worry, dear, it will not transport you straight away. For that you would have to open it." She explained. "For now, we will only determine if it considers you worthy. So go ahead." Aurora tried to encourage the girl._

_Hermione calmed herself down and put her hands on the Box. After a few moments the box started glowing yellow._

_"Well, isn't that interesting." Aurora said, frowning a little._

_"Does this mean that I qualify?" Hermione said hesitantly._

_"Yes, but it also means that you're not ready and/or capable of doing it yet." She replied._

_"Excuse me?" Hermione said angrily._

_"Oh, don't give me your attitude, child." Aurora rolled her eyes. "You can open it now, if you want to. It simply suggests doing some additional preparation for the journey, so you could actually achieve something."_

_"How can I do additional preparation, if I don't even know which time period I will land in?" Hermione all but shouted._

_"That might be true." The woman said calmly. "However, you do know your mission. Therefore, you could learn the basic facts that would help you in any time." She reasoned. "In addition, extra training and research wouldn't hurt you, would it?"_

_"Oh. Uh, Yes, certainly." Hermione answered, feeling like an idiot. Of course she should get all the information available. She should even try and get memories of everyone involved. Aurora was right, if she was doing it, she might as well do it right. "I apologise for my rudeness. You are right, of course." Hermione blushed. "I should go and get started." She finished._

_"Nice to see you finally came to your senses." Mrs. Gamp replied sounding amused. "Take as long as you need. Once the box chooses the user, it will not consider anyone else." She assured Hermione and led her to the door._

_"That is really good to know." Hermione relaxed. "Thank you for everything, Mrs. Gamp. I hope to see you soon" She added._

_"I am sure you will, dear." Aurora smiled. "Good luck." She added and went back inside._

_Hermione looked at the house once more and apparated home. She had a lot of work to do._

_-__**End of Flashback**__-_

"Are you alright, dear?" Mrs. Gamp asked Hermione, noticing that she was a bit zoned out.

"What?" Hermione looked around the room, confused. "Yes, Mrs. Gamp, I'm fine. I was just remembering the last time I was in this room. Excuse me." She smiled shyly.

"Don't worry, darling, it's quite alright. It was a memorable visit, after all." She laughed. "Would you like to open it now, or wait for a bit and chat?" Aurora asked.

"If you do not mind, Mrs. Gamp, I would like to do it now. The suspense is killing me." Hermione answered with a laugh.

"Of course, dear; I can only imagine." The woman laughed and moved out of the way. "I wish you all the best in your journey, Hermione." She added with a smile.

"Thank you." Hermione replied and once again put her hands on the Box.

This time the Box had a bright white glow around it, which made both women smile. Hermione thought she was ready for what was about to happen, and the Box confirmed it. _Talk about a confidence boost_.

She smiled at Mrs. Gamp one last time and opened the Box. Bright blue light was the last thing Hermione saw, before she passed out.

* * *

**A/N: Ok, that's it. What did you guys think? For some reason, I wanted Hermione to be prepared. Not too much, but enough to explain how she has some specific knowledge, i.e. where the horcruxes are. I also want to mention that the Merlin/Vivien story is actually real, though I manipulated it quite a lot. Lastly, I hope I didn't offend any of the people, who like to use time-turners in their stories. I simply needed them not to work that way for this story. Plus, it is how HISHE (how it should have ended) video doesn't have an effect on me. Anyway, thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed it :)**


	2. Chapter 2- The Plan

**A/N: Thank you for giving this story a chance. I love you all! As long as at least one of you is reading, I'll continue writing :) Also, I would like to thank ****_Milchi (I had to use google translate, but it was worth it lol), LoveSpock, lovinxoxo, LaurenBlack, and BeachGirl114 _****for their reviews. They made my day! :)**

**Anyway, here are some things to know before you continue: 1) Hermione and Lily's birthday is now on the 19th of May. It's the day of mine, and I've decided to just go with it (since it has no effect on the story. Well, despite James being older than Lily). 2) In my personal opinion, Hogwarts letters arrive in the middle of July, not when kids turn eleven (After all, Harry only opened the letter on his birthday; he started receiving them before that). I don't know if all of you think the same way, so I'm just letting you know what to expect. 3) This update includes two separate chapters. Well, one and a bit, really. I wanted to explain how the box actually worked. I hope it clears things up. If not, tell me and I'll figure something out :) That's all! I hope you like it!**

**Disclaimer: Once again, I do not own anything you recognise.**

* * *

Chapter 1.5 - The Transition

Merlin's Box is a peculiar device. If Hermione had read '_The Story of a muggle-born named Arthur', _she would have known what to expect. Alas, she was too busy to think about any _unimportant _details before she left. That was a mistake on her part. The thing is, the Box does not merely change one's surname and sends that person back. No. It gives its user a new life. Everything is new; from the very beginning.

Let me explain this using Hermione's case.

Hermione, as you know, was transported into a new body. What you didn't know, is that the body was of a baby; a baby girl, who did not exist in the _original_ timeline. In fact, the birth of this beautiful girl was the exact moment when a new timeline was created, and the old one simply faded away. All because of a girl named Hermione Rose Evans.

But that's not all. You see, Merlin knew that a baby's body would not survive a memory rush that was bound to happen. Therefore, he created a charm that would suppress the user's original memories for eleven years. The reasoning behind it was questionable, yet understandable. If a person was old enough to own a wand, he was old enough to face his destiny. Right?

So this is where the story continues. With a girl who is about to receive a rather unpleasant birthday gift.

* * *

Chapter 2- The Plan

Hermione was getting ready for bed, while Lily was going through her closet. Tomorrow was their birthday, and her sister wanted to look nice since they were going to take pictures and what not. Hermione wanted to be as excited as Lily was, she really did. But she couldn't. The reason for that was the most recent dream of hers. It was different than any other dream she ever had. It just seemed so real, as if she was actually there. In fact, even though it was completely impossible and insane, it seemed like it was a memory, her memory.

In the dream she was a grown up named Hermione Granger who wanted to use a weird looking magical box. She found it in this bizarre looking house, guarded by a crazy woman in a blue cape. Hermione couldn't recall much more of the dream, but she distinctly remembered the excitement she felt when she finally touched the box. As if all of her prayers were answered.

"'Mione, are you even listening to me?" Lily interrupted her thoughts.

"What? Oh, Sorry, Lils, I was a bit out of it." Hermione replied shyly. "What were you saying?"She added.

"I was _asking_," Lily rolled her eyes playfully, "if I could borrow your green dress for tomorrow."

"If you want to. It goes better with your hair anyway." Hermione offered, trying to make her sister less annoyed. The statement was true, though. Hermione's hair was a rather dark shade of auburn. Green definitely looked much better on Lily, who had flaming red hair.

"Thanks, sis." Lily smiled and put the said dress on her chair. "But I still don't understand why you're not excited." She pouted. "We're going to be eleven, 'Mione. This is the year we start Hogwarts!"

"According to Severus." Hermione mumbled.

"Yes." Lily hesitated. "But he is our best friend, right? We should believe him." She added not sounding so sure of herself.

Hermione didn't know what to tell Lily. On one hand, she _did_ believe Severus' stories about Hogwarts. Something inside of Hermione told her that everything he said was real, and both sisters would get those letters when the time came. Furthermore, she already knew that magic was real. There was no other way to explain the things she could do. No, that was not the reason for her small _dilemma_. The thing was, she didn't consider Severus to be one of her best friends. He was more of an acquaintance. In fact, if it wasn't for Lily, they probably wouldn't even talk to each other. Even though she enjoyed his stories (though she didn't really like the way he talked about the house of Slytherin for some reason), the guy was prejudiced. She noticed this _idea_ in a few of his tales. He thought that muggles (that's how he called people who didn't have magic in them) were inferior to wizards and weren't even worth to be talked to. He basically disliked people over something they had no control over. That didn't sit well with Hermione. To her, it seemed like the stupidest thing one could think of. After all, her parents were muggles; as was her older sister Petunia. Hermione couldn't understand how someone could think of them as lesser human beings. It wasn't right. Yet, when she told all of this to Lily, her sister just waved it off. _Apparently_, Hermione misunderstood what Severus was talking about. _Yeah, right._

Despite everything, she didn't want to start an argument with her sister a day before their birthday. Therefore, Hermione decided to ignore the Severus problem. For now_._

"Of course we should believe him, Lils. I was just teasing you." Hermione tried to smile. "Are you done choosing your outfit though? I'm really tired." She yawed stressing her point.

"Yeah, I think I'm done." Lily said while looking around the room searching for anything else she might need, the topic of Severus completely forgotten. "Let me just put everything aside, and I'll turn off the lights." She added.

"Thanks, sis. Sleep well." Hermione said trying to find a comfortable position in her bed.

"You too, 'Mione." Lily called back.

Before she fell asleep, Hermione couldn't help but wonder whether she would dream of being Hermione Granger ever again.

* * *

_She was sitting in a room that looked rather creepy. The paintings on the wall were talking and didn't seem too pleased to see her there. Plus, she could also feel the negative aura of the room; as if something bad has happened here. That, however, didn't affect her in any way. In fact, she seemed to be used to this environment and felt rather comfortable in it._

_"Hermione Granger! Were you planning to leave without saying goodbye?" Came a voice from behind her. She turned and saw a middle-aged man with red hair._

_"Oh no, Mr. Weasley. You know I wouldn't do that to any of you." She felt herself answering with an amused tone. "In fact, I was just waiting for everyone to wake up." She added._

_"They don't want you to leave." The man said suddenly sounding serious._

_"They don't want me to leave, but they know it's necessary. And so do you." She replied sounding annoyed. Hermione felt like that wasn't the first time they were having this discussion._

_The scene changed._

_She was standing in the same room, but there were a few other people in front of her._

_"Okay guys, I don't want any of you to try and talk me out of it. This is happening whether you like it or not." She started before anyone could say a word. "You know there is no other way." She added sadly._

_"We know, Hermione. And we trust you." One of the red-haired men said. Hermione's mind told her that his name was Bill. "We just worry about you, that's all." Bill added and gave her a hug._

_All of them proceeded to do the same until it was the turn of the red-haired woman. Instead of simply wishing her luck, she hugged Hermione and whispered into her ear, "Thank you for doing this, 'Mione. I know you will do great. Just please, please save Harry. I don't even care if he ends up with someone else; I just want him to live." She cried._

_"Ginny," Hermione faced the woman after returning the hug. "I promise I will do everything I can to make sure that Harry has a long, boring life." She smiled. "And don't worry. You guys were destined to be together. There is no way he could end up with anyone else." Hermione reassured the woman, wiping off the tears from her face._

_"Thank you, 'Mione. I needed that." Ginny said sounding grateful, and went to stand next to the others._

_The scene dissolved once more._

_Hermione was now touching the mystery box which was glowing white. She could sense a mixture of confidence and determination invading her mind. She felt herself looking at the crazy woman (who was now wearing a green cloak) and smiling at her. The woman smiled in return and gave her an encouraging nod. Hermione then turned back to the box, took a deep breath, and opened it._

_Blue light surrounded her and all went dark._

Hermione woke up with a start, feeling entirely confused. _What the hell was that?_ She didn't think it was just a dream. No, this was real, she could feel it. But what was it then? A vision of the future? _No. _That didn't seem right either. Her eyes in the_ dream_ were brown instead of green, and her hair was way too curly and bushy, not to mention much lighter. And even though she could almost recognise herself in the older woman, something seemed off. That woman wasn't her, not really.

Before Hermione had time to come up with more theories, she felt a sudden pain in the back of her head. What was worse, the pain seemed to be increasing at each second. After a few minutes of Hermione's silent cries (she didn't want to wake Lily), it got simply unbearable. She was just about to call her mother, _who cares that it's 4 am,_ when something happened.

Thousands of faces, pictures, voices, thoughts, and, for lack of a better word, _visions_ invaded her mind; all at the same time. In addition, the pain seemed to be getting much worse, if that was even possible. To Hermione, it felt like something was trying to kill her from inside. The pain simply consumed her. She couldn't even cry anymore. In fact, she couldn't even move anymore. She wanted to shout, to beg for help, but she physically could not do it. The only thing she _could_ do was close her eyes and hope for it to end.

After about an hour of this torture it stopped abruptly, leaving Hermione in utter shock. However, it wasn't the sudden disappearance of the agonizing pain that left her speechless. Actually, it was just the opposite.

Hermione _remembered. _She remembered being Hermione Jean Granger, the know-it-all best friend of Harry Potter and Ron Weasley. She remembered every single detail of her old life. However, she also remembered every single detail of this life; the life of Hermione Rose Evans. _How was this even possible? _It seemed that the Box created her life from the very beginning. It was the best cover story one could ever ask, but it was literally the furthest thing from what she expected to happen. She was an eleven year old girl who just received a lifetime worth of knowledge.

_What's done is done._ This was her life now, right? She had to get used to it, if she wanted to achieve anything.

Okay, so she was an eleven year old fraternal twin sister of Lily Evans. She was born in 1960. So it was what? 1971? _That's good. _That meant that Voldemort wasn't acting openly yet. Hermione had time; quite a lot of it, actually.

She was also a younger sister of Petunia Evans, a woman who destroyed her best friend's childhood. _What, in the name of Merlin, happened to her? _Petunia she knew in this life was caring and loving. She would never torment a child, especially not her own _nephew_. She _was_ a bit jealous of her sisters' talents, but she didn't seem to be that affected. _Maybe she was. _Was the jealousy really all that it took for her to become such a monster? Would she become even worse now that there were two sisters to be jealous of? Was there any way to save her?

And what should she do about Snape? Was there a possibility to actually make him good? After all, he only turned to the light side, because of his love for Lily. Moreover, he merely stayed on their side, because he felt guilty. Since there was no way Hermione would let her twin sister die in this life, did that mean Snape would stay on the dark side even if she defeated Voldemort? _That would be a huge problem_. He was smart enough to become the new Dark Lord. Then again, wasn't it possible that he joined the Death Eaters for the sole reason of protecting Lily? Did that mean he had some decency and goodness inside of him, or that he was just strongly obsessed with her sister? She had to figure it out before she made a mistake.

For now, however, she had to focus on the main problem- Voldemort. She needed a plan.

There were five horcruxes Hermione had yet to destroy: Riddle's diary, Marvolo Gaunt's ring, Rowena Ravenclaw's diadem, Salazar Slytherin's locket, and Helga Hufflepuff's cup. She would firstly go after the diadem. Obviously. It was the easiest one. It would be there when she got to Hogwarts, and she already knew the approximate place where it should be. _Definitely would cause fewer problems than the rest of them_. Next logical step would be to get the ring. It's already hidden in the ruins of the Gaunt's shack, so she wouldn't have to wait. The extraction of the ring, might cause some major difficulties though. The only information she had on the thing was its location and what it was made of. Furthermore, the fact that even Dumbledore wasn't able to resist the temptation to use it, did not help at all. She had to be careful with that one. _Okay, next_. Well, out of the remaining three, the cup would get to its expected place first. On the other hand, that expected place was Gringotts. Even if all went well, the word would get out after the monthly check-up, and Voldemort might realise that someone was after him. _No, the cup had to be the last one_. So… Once she got the ring, she would go after the diary. Yes, that shouldn't be too difficult. Lucius didn't really care for it. Fake copy would be more than enough for him not to notice anything. She only had to figure out how to get into the Malfoy Manor undetected. And if her plan worked well, she could go and get the locket next. _Now that would definitely prove to be tricky_. Hermione would have to time it perfectly. She had to save Regulus, he deserved a life and Sirius deserved to know his little brother.

Of course, before Hermione started going after any of the horcruxes, she had to do one more thing. She needed the sword. However, she couldn't just _ask_ Dumbledore for it. For that, she would have to give him a reason. _Not going to happen._

Well, in all fairness, she _did_ promise the others to tell Dumbledore everything once she got here. Nevertheless, Hermione was not so sure whether that was a good idea anymore (especially considering the circumstances); or ever, for that matter. Not that he wouldn't believe her. He probably knew all about the Box and its capabilities. No, the problem was Dumbledore's manipulative and secretive nature (Hermione suspected that the Headmaster knew much more than he let on in the past future), not to mention his tendency to underestimate everyone. He would, most likely, tell her to sit back and wait for him to fix everything, because she was _too young_ to deal with 'all that evil'. His heart was in the right place, but that wouldn't work for Hermione. She would, of course, find a way to _anonymously_ help him prevent the attacks she knew about (there was no way Hermione could do it all by herself), but that was _all_ she would include him in. At least for as long as it was possible.

And that is why Hermione had to figure out how to break into the headmaster's office unnoticed and steal the sword. Or take it and put it back afterwards; repeatedly. In any case, she didn't want to keep horcruxes for more than it took to destroy them. Especially, if there was a simple way to avoid it. So, once she had a way to _borrow_ the sword without anyone knowing about it, she could-

"Shit." Hermione swore silently when the realisation hit her. _Of course_ there was something she forgot about. _Of Course _the stupid sword of Gryffindor wouldn't work. There was no basilisk venom in it yet. _Damn. _What else could she use? Hermione didn't trust her abilities enough to use the Fiendfyre. It was too risky. Only a true expert in Dark Arts could control it. She, on the other hand, would either burn down the school and kill everyone, or destroy the _Room of Requirement _and kill herself. Plus, the spell was almost as dark as the killing curse. It required a lot of dark energy. It would drain her.

As much as she hated to admit, there was only one option left

"Great." Hermione couldn't believe this was actually happening. "I'll have to kill the damn serpent."

* * *

**A/N: Two chapters done. Yay! How did you find it? I know this chapter was shorter than the last one, but I had to end it there. Sorry :( I should also warn you that the next one will be of a similar length. It will be the Diagon Alley/Hogwarts' express thing. As you probably understand, there isn't much I can do there :) I will, however, try and make it as interesting as I can, so please don't give up on me :) By the way… I want to clarify that by 'serpent' (last sentence) I meant the basilisk in the Chamber of Secrets. You probably got it anyway, but you know… Better safe than sorry :) One more thing… I know there are few other things that can destroy Horcruxes. But, since they are basically as bad as horcruxes themselves, or impossible to find, I decided to ignore their existence (at least for now), and let Hermione have fun with the basilisk. Thank you for reading!**


	3. Chapter 3- The Thoughts

**A/N: This chapter turned out to be different from what I originally planned. I wanted to give the good view of everything and everyone, and it just took a lot of space. Next chapter will have more dialogue and interesting stuff, so I hope you'll keep on reading. Thank you all for reading this story, it really means a lot to me. I know I said it before, but I love all of you!**

**Important information: The facts for this story will only be taken from the books or Pottermore (and in some cases classical literature). I know some of my awesome readers suggested additional things taken from other sites (e.g. wands made out of three woods and two cores), and I really apologise, but that's the way I want it to be. I hope you can respect my decision. And as sad as it would be, I'll understand if you stop reading the story because of this.**

**I do not own anything you recognize (I wish I did, though).**

* * *

Chapter 3 - The Thoughts

"Hermione! How are you still in bed? Wake up!" Lily shouted.

"Let me sleep, Lils." Came Hermione's muffled response. "I've had a really rough night. Barely got any sleep at all" She decided not to include the '_oh and my life got completely turned upside down as well_' part.

"But it's our birthday!" Her sister complained.

"And it won't stop being our birthday if I sleep for five more minutes. Please, Lily." Hermione begged.

"Fine!" Her sister threw her arms in the air. "I'm going downstairs and I'll wait for you there." She continued. "But if you're not there, all dressed up and ready, in twenty minutes, I'm coming back with a bucket of ice cold water!" Lily finished and left the room laughing.

When she left, Hermione let out a breath she's been holding. She still couldn't get her head around what has happened. She thought sleep would help, but it just made it worse. All Hermione could see in her dreams (for those two hours she managed to sleep afterwards) were the memories of her friends' deaths. With _great_ detail. She wondered if that was all she would dream of from now on. It was as if her mind wanted Hermione to remember the reason she was sent here. _Not like the reminder was needed._

Hermione sighed, got up, and went to the shower. It was time to face the reality.

* * *

After her daily routine was done, Hermione stopped to look at the mirror before she left. She saw the same reflection for the last eleven years, but having her old memories back made Hermione look closer. She couldn't help but compare herself to the other Hermione (a.k.a. Hermione Granger). She still had the same skin tone (just slightly darker than her twin's), and a similar bone structure as before. In addition, her weight and height were basically the same to those from her first time around (though, to be perfectly honest, Lily's built was quite comparable so that might have been a coincidence). But everything else... Everything else was different. Her eyes were probably the biggest and the most important change of all. The emerald green of Harry's eyes was now seen in Hermione's own reflection. Yet another _aide-mémoire_ of what she had to fight for. But that was not all. Gone was Hermione's bushy, light hair. Instead, she had dark-brown hair with a shade of auburn that was relatively sleek, with only a few waves here and there. She loved it. However, not as much as she loved her teeth. _Perfectly straight. Thank Merlin_. As shallow as it sounded, she was glad for those changes. Being called all those names in the past only reduced her self-esteem and caused a lot of tears. At least now she wouldn't have to deal with any of that. _Silver linings, right?_

When Hermione finally gathered up the courage and went downstairs, she saw the whole family getting ready to have breakfast. Her mother (a beautiful blonde, ex-nurse named Rhea Evans) was making eggs, while her dad (well built, dark haired head-engineer of the British Motor Corporation – Henry Evans) was reading the newspaper. Even her sisters were busy, discussing the upcoming end of the school year trip. None of them seem to notice Hermione, who was standing in the corner and observing all of her family members.

Once again her mind seemed to put both of her lives side by side. _Family. _Now that was something the old Hermione had a little recollection of. The war took everything from her. Yes, her plan of protecting her parents has worked. And yes, she did manage to restore their memories. However, it wasn't all sunshine and rainbows. Obliviation is a tricky business. That's why it's usually used to completely remove the information from a person's mind; without an intention to ever bring back those memories. Hermione did her best, but her parents' memories still seemed rather _second-handed_. As if they were something her parents watched on the tv rather than felt and lived through. But they remembered her and that was enough at that point. After all, it was a small price to pay for their safety. It only got worse afterwards, though. Her parents never seemed to restore their unconditional love for Hermione. It was more like she was their distant relative, who they enjoyed talking to. Plus, Hermione's parents stayed in Australia, therefore, she wasn't even able to visit them as frequently. And when the chaos started after Harry's death, she barely had enough time to send them a letter. With all the madness going on in her life, Hermione thought she would never be able to feel that parental love ever again.

But now, now she had another opportunity; an opportunity to appreciate her new family and all the little things. In all honesty, Hermione was really lucky to be sent to the Evans family. She could feel that her parents' love was truly unreserved (no wonder Lily grew up to be so loving and sacrificed herself for Harry). Besides, she had sisters. That was something Hermione Granger has always wished for. Yes, she had Ron and Harry in the past, but that was not the same. First of all, Ron situation was complicated from the very beginning, and there were always some feelings involved. They were _never_ just friends. Even after their breakup, Hermione felt some tension between them. Harry, on the other hand, was a whole different story. She did have some brotherly feelings towards him. But they were best friends above all. Their family-like relationship was only seen in the fact, that they had no romantic feelings towards each other. She never asked him for relationship advice or anything of that sort. Moreover, both of her friends felt really uncomfortable in quite a few situations involving her, e.g. when Hermione was distressed. They were used to her being strong, so her tears were something that left guys confused and utterly useless (Ginny was helpful in those occurrences, but the girls never developed a strong bond between them). _Sometimes a girl just needs a sister… or two._

Speaking of sisters, Hermione was still not sure what to do about Petunia. Thinking about her past life, made her remember some of Harry's old stories about his aunt. He always stressed that Petunia was jealous not only of her sister's magical capabilities, but also of Lily herself, and all of the attention she was getting from their parents. It was something that simply didn't make sense to Hermione. It was obvious to her that their parents loved all of them equally, and didn't put that much emphasis on the fact that two of their daughters could do some extraordinary things. They were proud, yes, but they didn't say anything to imply that the twins were better than Petunia. Moreover, her 13 year old sister was the smartest student in her class and she was definitely on the _pretty _side as well. She had a long, strawberry blond hair that fit her light skin tone perfectly and a tall, slim figure that would make a lot of girls jealous. She was also kind and sensitive. _For now_. Everyone loved her, Hermione included. Therefore, there was absolutely no motive for her to feel inadequate based on those reasons. The more Hermione thought about that, the weirder it seemed. Eventually, she came to a conclusion that Petunia's jealousy of Lily's magic (and now Hermione's too), made her think less of herself and create further reasons for hatred in her own mind. In the end, she was an overachiever. Snape pointing out that she was just a muggle didn't help the situation either. Not having an ability to do something that her sisters did so effortlessly, almost certainly made her frustrated (similar to how Hermione felt in her first flying lesson at Hogwarts).

And that was the other thing that bothered Hermione. Having a strong control over the magic at such young age, was not a common occurrence. Especially not amongst the muggleborns, who didn't even know what magic was at that point. However, both Lily and Hermione were able to do the magic _intentionally. _Making flowers levitate or flying (_literally)_ off the swings, wasn't really supposed to be possible without a wand. She also realised that their magic was more advanced than Snape's (which was interesting to know, considering what an accomplished wizard he grew up to be). Severus _was_ able to do what he wanted, but his magic was powered by emotions rather than formulated thoughts. Hermione didn't know how she felt about that. On one hand, not knowing where the control came from scared her a little bit. On the other hand, it meant that they were magically strong. If she was smart enough with her training, this could turn out to be a huge advantage.

Before she could get into the planning mode, she was finally noticed by her family. After all the "happy birthdays" and "thank you's" were exchanged, they continued with a casual conversation.

"So, girls," her mother started, "your father and I were thinking that after school we could all have a little shopping time and maybe go to the zoo. Would you like that?"

"Yes!" All three girls eagerly agreed.

"Very well, ladies, it settled then." Mr. Evans laughed.

* * *

The day passed quickly for Hermione. School was boring, shopping was fun, the zoo was entertaining, and all the presents were fascinating (especially the silver charm bracelets with hearts on them that both twins received from their parents). However, she couldn't properly enjoy any of that, because all she could think about was her mission. In fact, that was all she could think about for the next two months.

Hermione's number one priority was the Chamber of Secrets. It was a hard task and before she could be successful, she had to train her _new_ body and magic. Hermione remembered Aurora telling her that the magic would travel with her, but it still felt slightly different. She had to get used to it before she could take action. Apart from training, Hermione also had to come up with a foolproof plan. Failing, especially at this stage, was not an option. She already knew how to get into the chamber (Hermione still had a memory of the night when Ron opened it), but she still had to figure out what to do after. First of all, she had to make the basilisk show itself. She didn't know how to call it, so she would have to find out what attracts it. Then came the tricky part. She remembered her research in second year about the basilisk. That is why she knew that the crowing of the rooster was fatal to it. However, what she didn't know was whether the basilisk would still survive, if it managed to get away quickly. Hermione would, of course, search the library for that once she got to Hogwarts, but she wasn't sure there was anything to be found. The worst case scenario, she would have to figure out how to keep the serpent in one place long enough so that the rooster could do its job. If she was being honest, even if the books said that a second was enough, she would still look for a way to trap it just in case. _Better safe than sorry._

Those were the kind of thoughts that were constantly appearing in Hermione's mind. She was thinking about all the stages of her mission, the Horcruxes, and the battle that would follow if she was successful. However, she also understood that being overly optimistic wasn't the wisest choice. On the other hand, she didn't want to share the information with anyone; at least not yet. The most reasonable option that Hermione could think of was a creation of a diary of some sort, which would only show the information once she was dead. The more Hermione thought about it, the more she liked the idea. Every time she went out on a mission, she could leave the diary at some place where Lily could find it (Hermione didn't know if she could trust anyone else yet. Living in the past could become a cause of some major loyalty changes. She couldn't risk putting priceless information into the wrong hands. First, she had to be sure they were on her side). Hermione would write the whole story. Everything that has happened. The information she had on Voldemort and the future, what she managed to achieve in this timeline; all would be there. She would also encourage Lily to share the information with the people she trusted the most (Snape excluded. The information was too significant. Who knew if he wouldn't become tempted to use it for the wrong reasons, it was Snape after all). That way, Hermione would at least know that there could still be a chance to bring the noseless bastard down. Of course, she would still think about the other ways to guarantee the positive outcome; preferably while ensuring her sister's safety. For now, however, this idea seemed rather appealing; even though the means for creating it would require some '_grey area' _magic.

All this planning had an effect on Hermione's life. The thoughts were consuming her. She promised herself she would appreciate the new life, but Hermione wasn't really concentrating on it. She did have quite a few happy moments, playing board games with her family, spending time with Lily and Snape, and all that, but she was mostly scheming. Her only hope was that once she has figured out most of the details, she could have some fun in between the mission's stages. It was sad, however. The only time she actually managed to stop planning for a bit, was almost a week ago when the Hogwarts' letters arrived and they got a visit from professor McGonagall.

_-Flashback-_

_The whole family was eating dinner when they heard a knock on the door._

_"I'll get it." Hermione exclaimed._

_When she opened the door, she couldn't believe her own eyes. There, in front of her, stood her beloved Hogwarts teacher. Of course, it made sense. When Hermione was eleven the first time, she was also visited by one of the Hogwarts' professors. It took ages before her parents believed that their only daughter was an actual witch._

_Professor McGonagall looked much younger than Hermione remembered, but she still had that look that said 'do not mess with me'. Her hair was in a bun, as usual, and everything about her was simply _proper_._

_"Hello, dear." The professor greeter her. "I am here to talk to Mr. and Mrs. Evans. Are they at home?"_

_"Oh, uhm, yes, yes they are." Hermione finally managed to speak. "Mum! Dad! There is a woman here who wants to speak with you." She shouted in the general direction of the living room._

_When both of her parents showed up, they froze on the spot. After all, Mrs. McGonagall was wearing deep green robes instead of normal muggle attire (which, surprisingly, Hermione failed to notice)._

_"Hello, Mr. and Mrs. Evans, I am Professor Minerva McGonagall and I am a representative of Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry. I would like to talk about the future of your two daughters- Lily and Hermione. May I come in?" Mrs. McGonagall asked._

_Both of Hermione's parents were too shocked to say anything, so Mrs. McGonagall just stepped in. When all of them were seated in the living room, the Professor continued._

_"As you've probably noticed already, your daughters are occasionally able to do some things that could not be explained by science." She started._

_Both Rhea and Henry Evans, still slightly confused, just nodded at that. It wasn't really a secret. They knew about twins' abilities since the girls changed their clothes' colours at the age of two._

_"Great." Said Mrs. McGonagall. "Then you probably won't be surprised when I tell you that all those things were done with a help of magic."_

_"Magic?" Rhea Evans asked, thinking that she probably misheard the professor._

_"Yes, magic." Mrs. McGonagall calmly replied, took out her wand and transfigured their table into a pig. When she got the reaction she wanted (which was total and complete amazement), she transfigured it back and continued, "Mr. and Mrs. Evans, your daughters are witches, and I, on the behalf of Hogwarts, would like to offer them a place at our school." She put in. "Believe me when I say that it would be in their best interest to attend. Outbursts of magic are dangerous; therefore, they need to learn how to control them and use their magic properly."_

_"But we already know how to control it." Lily seemed to recover the fastest (well, besides Hermione, of course). She wasn't surprised that she was a witch. After all, Snape told that same thing to both sisters a million times._

_"Excuse me?" The professor sounded confused._

_"What my sister is trying to say," Hermione tried to help, "is that we know how to do relatively simple magic intentionally. We realized that we can control it at the age of around four or five." She didn't really want to share this information, but Lily was about to do it anyway, so it didn't change anything anyway._

_"Really?" Mrs. McGonagall furrowed her brow. "That means you are going to grow up as very powerful witches. Yes, girls from a muggle family who can control something they don't really understand? Impressive." The professor seemed to be lost in her own thoughts for a second. "Well, in that case, Hogwarts is almost essential to the twins." Mrs. McGonagall redirected her attention to the parents, who seemed to finally understand what was happening. "They would learn how to develop their magic and use it wisely. I'm sure they would grow to be a great addition to the wizarding community."_

_"Wizarding community?" Mr. Evans almost chocked. "But how? Where? Since when there is an actual wizarding _community_?"_

_Professor seemed to be expecting this question. She told all of them about the wizarding world, money, clothes, Hogwarts, the Ministry of Magic and their laws, and anything else that they've asked about. Most importantly, after everyone finally agreed that the girls should go to Hogwarts, she gave the twins their letters and told them about the Diagon Alley, including how to get there._

_"I recommend going there next week." The professor stated. "All of the students got the letters today, so there would be too many people around. However, if you wait for too long, the shops might run out of the required items, which would cause you having to schedule another trip."_

_"That sounds reasonable enough, Mrs. McGonagall. Thank you." Said Rhea Evans._

_"No problem, Mrs. Evans. Thank you for taking the news so well." Mrs. McGonagall rewarded the woman with one of her rare smiles. "And I look forward to seeing you two in Hogwarts." She added to the twins before leaving. _

_What surprised Hermione more than Mrs. McGonagall's sudden appearance, was Petunia's reaction to all of this. She did not say a word for the whole conversation. She just sat there, politely pretending to listen, not really paying attention to anything that was being said. When the professor left, Petunia stood up and just went to her room without uttering a word. Hermione had to do something about her sister's jealousy issues_. _She saw that their parents exchanged worried looks and sighed, but still tried to appear happy, since Lily was basically jumping on the couch (screaming something that sounded like 'We are going to Hogwarts. Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God), and trying to get Hermione involved._

_"Okay girls, calm down!" Mrs. Evans laughed. "You will have plenty of time to cheer later."_

_"I just cannot believe it." Lily relaxed and sat on the couch. "We are really going to Hogwarts! And to the Diagon Alley! We will see all the wizarding stuff!" She added. "When are we going there?" Her enthusiasm was contagious._

_"Well, I think we should listen to the Professor and go next week. What do you girls think?" Mr. Evans asked everyone, though it was mostly oriented towards his wife._

_"I think that's a great idea, Henry." Mrs. Evans replied. "Okay, girls, it's decided. We are going next week." She stated and laughed when Lily started to clap enthusiastically. "Now, help me do the dishes and go get ready for bed."_

* * *

_That night, Lily and Hermione were discussing what they thought it would be like to study at Hogwarts, surrounded by all the magical students. They also wondered (well at least Lily did and Hermione was playing along), what the Diagon Alley would look like and whether they could get some additional books from the bookstore or owls that were apparently really useful._

_Suddenly, Lily sat up in her bed and turned to her sister._

_"'Mione, do you think we should ask Sev to come with us? His situation at home isn't that great and I know he would like to spend the time there with us. Don't you agree?" Lily asked._

_"Yes, Lily, of course." Hermione answered. "We just need to ask mum and dad first."_

_Hermione agreed with Lily on this one. Snape's family really was not something she would consider appropriate. They weren't beating him or anything of that sort (as far as Hermione knew), but it was bad. His parents were arguing constantly, they didn't pay attention to Severus at all, and his dad was almost completely against anything related to magic. The family also didn't have that much money. Severus' dad usually couldn't keep a job for a long time due to his alcohol problem, and he didn't allow his wife to work in the wizarding world, even though it was all she knew how to do. Hermione realized that all of those things were the reasons for his slightly unhealthy attachment to Lily. He wanted to feel appreciated, and Lily (being the kind hearted, selfless person she was) provided that for him. Hermione tried to do that too, but being in her old professor's presence was a bit uncomfortable. She was still suspicious about his true loyalties and his feeling towards Lily, which did not reflect well on their friendship._

_-End of Flashback-_

After Lily and Hermione simply asked their parents if they could take Severus with them to Diagon Alley, they agreed (Hermione thought that they probably knew all about Snape's living arrangements, since they were more than happy to comply, and actually told the girls that it was really nice of them to include him). It didn't take long to convince Mr. and Mrs. Snape either; apparently, both of his parents just nodded when Mrs. Evans asked them.

While everyone was excited about the trip, Hermione was slightly indecisive about how she felt. Diagon Alley would, of course, provide her with the most important thing – her wand. But what scared her was a possibility of recognizing the people. More specifically, what if she met James Potter? Everyone always said that Harry looked just like his dad, and all of the old pictures confirmed it. What kind of behavior their meeting would cause? Would she go into shock? Would she run to him and hug him? Would she just start crying? Or would she be able to handle it? _Well, there is only way to find out._

* * *

**A/N: So? What did you guys think? I didn't want their parents to actually ignore Petunia. I do believe that parents love all their children equally. I mean, they would probably be proud about all of the capabilities, but that would not be a good enough reason to neglect another child, right? Anyway, thank you for reading, and I hope you liked it. Feel free to express your general thoughts, complaints, and suggestions in reviews. As I've said before, compliments are preferred, but constructive criticism is also appreciated.**


	4. Chapter 4- The Alley

**A/N: This chapter was getting too long so I cut it into two different ones. And I've decided to post both of them at the same time. Hope you like them.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.**

**PS. Happy Holidays to everyone!**

* * *

Chapter 4 – The Alley

The ride to London was a gloomy one. Besides Snape, who didn't have any clue as to what has happened (since the twins didn't have enough time to inform him) nobody was really participating in a conversation. _Unless answering with one word sentences counted_. Mr. and Mrs. Evans were occasionally exchanging worried looks, Lily was listening to Severus while he talked about all the shops in the Diagon Alley (although it was obvious that her mind was elsewhere), and Hermione was looking through the window, pretending to be fascinated by the never-changing scenery. And why were they in this awkward situation? Well, because of Petunia, of course. She refused to go with them. Well, not really refused _per se_; more like invented an excuse (a school project she apparently had to finish before the school started) for not going.

Lily seemed to be affected the most. In her opinion, seeing all the magical things would have helped Petunia get used to the changes and accept them. After all, Petunia was their older sister; she was _supposed _to be proud of them and offer her support. In return, they would share everything with her, help her, and maybe even teach her some tricks; which would make everything go back to the way it was before.

Yes, that was Lily's opinion of the situation. _Bless her innocence. _Hermione, on the other hand, thought that her sister made a very wise choice. Petunia found out about this whole other world only a week ago. Sure, she knew that her sisters were, for lack of a better word, special, and that Snape knew some tricks too; but a magical community? A community that was able to get almost everything they wanted by waving a stick? A community that she wasn't allowed to be a part of, while two of her younger sisters were accepted before they could learn how to read? For Petunia it obviously didn't feel fair. And adding Diagon Alley experiences to this equation would only mess things up even further.

"Okay, everyone, we are here." Her dad disrupted Hermione's thoughts. "Now, the shop that Mrs. McGonagall was talking about is just around the corner so we will have to walk."

* * *

"Are you sure this is the right one, Henry?" Mrs. Evans asked once they've reached Leaky Cauldron (almost passing it, by the way. It really was not that noticeable). "It doesn't look, uhm, inviting."

"Of course it's the right one, mum." Hermione waved her off. Her _previous _parents had the same reaction. "Don't you remember what the Professor said? It is supposed to look like this so non-magical people wouldn't want to go in."

"Well, mission accomplished. It looks absolutely ghastly." Her mother didn't sound convinced at all, but followed her daughter in, nonetheless.

Once they've entered, it became rather obvious that this was, in fact, the right place. Despite the fact, that it could not be considered to be a fine, clean establishment, there were plenty of people inside. Moreover, everyone was wearing robes, and many wizards actually had their wands out. _So much for secrecy._

Passing through the crowd proved to be harder than anyone anticipated, but after some time they managed to reach the bartender (who was a middle-aged, nice looking man, with short grey hair), and Hermione spoke once again.

"Good afternoon sir. My name is Hermione Rose Evans." She tried to sound polite. "Professor McGonagall said that you would lead us through the barrier to Diagon Alley, since our parents are both muggles."

"Well, of course I will, dear. No worries." The bartender offered Hermione a genuine smile. "Let me just tell my wife so she can take over, and I will be shortly with you. Oh and you can call me Tom." He added before leaving.

Hermione was flabbergasted. Tom? The same Tom who ran the business in her past? Wasn't he supposed to be bold, dirty, and rather ugly? And didn't he just leave to talk to his wife? _Tom had a wife?_ Not in her past, he didn't. Did she leave him? Was that the reason for his change?

As much as she wanted, Hermione refused to create more theories without having any sort of information, so she focused on her surroundings instead. She didn't see anyone from her _time, _as far as she could tell. She did, however, notice some people that looked rather similar (most likely parents and grandparents of her old classmates), but that was it. _Good start._

When Tom finally got back, he led them straight to the back yard and the infamous wall.

"I'm going to take you to the main muggle-born integration office, which is located right next to the wizarding bank – Gringotts." He started. "They will tell you everything you need to know about the Diagon Alley, and will give you a map with specific shops, as well as the price list. If you prefer, they could also supply a guide. The main point of the office is to ensure that everything goes smoothly and your money is spent wisely." Tom finished almost out of breath, and Hermione was sure that he was forced to learn the text word by word.

"Thank you, Tom." Mrs. Evans smiled. "This is very considerate."

After the wall was parted, Diagon Alley came into view. Even the _Petunia problem_ seemed to be put aside for the time being. Magic was seen everywhere. Witches and wizards, hundreds of them, just walking in every direction, making their bags float behind them. It was something surreal. Hermione couldn't help but be fascinated as well; more so, than she was the first time around.

The last time she was in the Diagon Alley, it was completely destroyed. Mostly because of what happened to Harry. After his death, the place became famous for Death Eater attacks. It was their sick way of reminding everyone that nobody should ever feel safe. And it worked. At first, people went to the Diagon Alley anyway, but tried to stay in groups at all times. However, as the attacks became more frequent and more random, they started avoiding the place altogether. The shops closed, and all that was left was the battlefield.

Yes, Hermione's memories weren't the prettiest ones. But now, seeing everything as it should be, gave her hope. She remembered all the happy time spent in this place, in this world. This was her home. And she was not going to let anyone take it away from her again, especially not that snakeface psychopath.

* * *

When they reached the office, they were immediately greeted by a very short and enthusiastic young witch, who just couldn't stop talking for a second. Even looking at her was exhausting. She was dressed in a bright red gown and was wearing a gold bow in her messy, dirty-blonde hair. The only way to describe this woman was to say she was a female version of Gilderoy Lockhart with a personality of Lavender Brown. She did have some good information, though. The woman told them about the money system, the Knockturn Alley, and the sellers on the street, who were just after their money and didn't sell anything useful. She might have said something more, but Hermione tuned her out after the first five minutes. Her voice was worse than the mandrake's scream. At the end of the woman's '_lecture'_, twins' parents decided to take the map (Hermione suspected that they were just as annoyed with the witch as she was, and didn't want to risk her being their guide).

Their first stop obviously was Gringotts. The place looked extraordinary, as usual. Huge golden chandeliers, dim lighting; it all made the bank look more mysterious and frightening (not to mention the fact that it was run by the most vicious looking creatures of the magical world). When the initial shock of seeing goblins has passed, Hermione's father handled the situation surprisingly well. He talked politely, and didn't have any problem understanding the information he was given. _Although he did have some trouble trying not to stare at the creatures too much._

After the money was exchanged and Snape took some from his own vault, the children decided to get the most important thing on the list first– their wands.

* * *

Ollivanders wasn't as packed as Hermione thought it would be; only one boy, accompanied by a man who looked like his father, were in front of them already choosing the right wand. When the third wand that was offered to the boy produced something similar to fireworks, Mr. Ollivander clapped his hands.

"What a wonderful choice, young man. Twelve and a half inches, Dogwood, drangon heartstring, pliable. Perfect for transfiguration and complex spells. I trust it will serve you well. Also, a very fun wand to have, if I might add." The owner chuckled. "I believe your uncle has also been chosen by a Dogwood wand, have you not, Mr. Black?"

_Wait. Mr. Black? Did that mean..? _The boy turned to look at his uncle, and the answer was clear. There, in front of Hermione, stood Sirius Black. A boy, who in Hermione's past grew up to be the most courageous man she has ever known. The man, who managed to survive almost anything that was thrown at him. _Almost. _Yet another fate she was here to change.

"Why, yes, Mr. Ollivander." Sirius' uncle laughed. "A great wand that I still treasure to this day."

"I am happy to hear that, sir." Mr. Ollivander bowed.

When Mr. Black paid for the wand and both he and Sirius turned to leave, Hermione locked her eyes with the younger version of the man she once knew. His grey eyes and rather long, well-kept black hair (which was slightly wavy), made him look extraordinary and devilishly handsome. In addition, his slightly tanned skin tone only emphasised his naturally masculine complexion. It was obvious, that when he grew up, he would get a lot of attention from the girls (Hermione knew that for the fact already). Moreover, Sirius was dressed in expensive black robes, and the way he walked only accentuated his aristocratic background (however, it looked natural, and that was a huge plus).

Interest must have been seen in Hermione's eyes, because Sirius suddenly looked at her with a sheepish, rather smug grin and winked. _Wow, that boy started young. _Hermione didn't know how to react to that. The small girl inside of her wanted to flush and present him with a shy smile. After all, she was eleven in a sense, and the boy was cute. Her old personality, however, refused to do that. This was Sirius Black. The godfather of her best friend. And she had mentality of a thirty year old woman. This situation was way too ridiculous and awkward. So awkward that Hermione couldn't help but laugh a little; which wasn't the best decision for that specific moment. It seemed to affect Sirius, who just frowned and left the shop quickly. _Good job, Hermione. Way to destroy boy's confidence. _She almost slapped herself.

"Okay, children, who wants to go first?" Mr. Evans enquired. Hermione almost forgot that they came here to get their wands. It was lucky that nobody noticed her little _encounter._

"I'll go!" Lily exclaimed and basically ran to Mr. Ollivander.

After all the measurements were taken and Lily tried more than five wands, she found her match in a Willow wand with a Unicorn hair; which, according to Mr. Ollivander, was perfect for charms. The base of her wand was nicely carved with a nice scroll pattern. It suited her perfectly.

Hermione let Snape go next. After all, she wasn't as excited as her friends about the process, she went through it before.

Severus found his wand without many problems (Ollivander knew what he was doing). Differently from the light shade wand that Lily got, Snape's was rather dark and weird markings on it. _Was that a bad sign?_

"Well, my boy, a very interesting wand you got there. A very unusual combination indeed."Mr. Ollivander observed the wand. "Hawthorn with a phoenix feather, and reasonably pliant as well. It's going to be perfect for original incantations as well as healing magic and hexes. However, this wand will require a lot of concentration on your part. If you're not careful or indecisive, it might become a burden. Treat it carefully." The man warned Severus and gave him the wand.

After Snape paid for his wand, it was Hermione's turn. Unfortunately, she did not have as much luck as her companions. She must have tried more than half of the wands in the store before any progress could be seen.

"Hmm. Let's try all of these." Mr. Ollivander put another dozen of wands on the table. "I wonder." The man said more to himself and silently gave Hermione Harry's old holly wand with a phoenix feather. _Is he serious?_

To her relief and Ollivander's displeasure, it did not work at all. Hermione was simply delighted. She did not want anything to do with that wand. Not only because it was Harry's, but also because it had a connection to Voldemort's wand. She did not want any surprises when she had to fight him in the end (if she survived until then, that is). _Priori Incantatem _wouldn't be that helpful.

"Well, I guess that's not it." The man said sadly, but quickly recovered. "What about a nice vine wood wand with a dragon heartstring?" Mr. Ollivander asked and gave Hermione the wand she once had and cherished.

When Hermione tried the wand, it was her turn to show disappointment. The wand did perform a tiny bit of magic, but it wasn't anything similar to how it reacted in the past.

_"_Interesting." Mr. Ollivander observed. "It seems as it could work, but it's definitely not the perfect match. And I don't settle for anything less than perfect." He chuckled. "It appears that your magic is reacting to the dragon heartstring, however. Let me just check my stock for a second."

When Mr. Ollivander came back, he was carrying a beautiful wand. It was a pleasant shade of light brown, and the vaguely darker Quaternary Celtic Knot pattern craved on the handle was just magnificent.

"Ok, Miss Evans, go ahead and try this one." He presented Hermione with the wand. "Cedar with a dragon heartstring, twelve inches, reasonably supple. A true masterpiece, if I may add" Mr. Ollivander put in.

When Hermione took it in her hand, she felt a rush of power travel through her body and into the wand. Consequently, the most bright and powerful sparks flew out of it. But she didn't care about any of that. She was finally complete.

"Ah, it seems we found the one that was predestined for you. In all my years, I've only seen a few wands respond that way." Said Mr. Ollivander excitedly. "And what a wonderful wand that is too. A true fighter's weapon. Perfect for duels and protective charms, as well as complex magic. I think it's clear that you, my dear, are not meant to live a boring life." He added. _Really? Who would've thought…_

* * *

Flourish and Blotts was the next stop; mainly because it was the nearest one. While Mr. and Mrs. Evans were placing the order for the required books, children decided to check what else the store sold. As Hermione was expecting, Lily went straight to the Charms section and Snape was checking the potion books as well as some _darker _literature. Hermione, on the other hand, went looking for Hofwarts, A History. Not only because it was her favorite, but also because she needed to have a valid reason for knowing so much about the place. Her inability to express her opinion while Snape talked about Slytherin being the best house was driving her mad.

When she finally found it and turned to leave, she bumped into a boy who was carrying way too many books. For a second Hermione was shocked. He looked almost exactly like one of the Weasley twins when she met them in her first year. Messy red hair and mischievous expression was simply too familiar. His silver eyes, however, made him look different from the Weasley clan and certainly more mysterious.

She stood still for a second, almost paralysed, trying to remind herself that this was not one of her friends and, at the same time, attempting to figure out who the boy was. After she calmed herself down, Hermione saw that the boy was already collecting his books from the floor. _Interrogation will have to wait._

"I am so sorry. Wasn't really looking where I was going." Hermione apoligised and bent down to help the boy.

"No worries." The boy answered. "It was my fault, really. I don't even know why I was trying to get all the books at once. Obviously, it was a terrible idea from the very beginning." He laughed.

"Well, if I didn't get in your way, you would have succeeded." Hermione smiled.

"I am delighted you did, though." The boy winked. _Wait.. Winked? Seriously? What was wrong with all the boys in this time?_

"Uhm, okay… no problem then, I guess." She shook her head and smiled. There was no need to ruin yet another boy's confidence. So, instead, she decided to change the topic. "You know most of these books are not supposed to be read by first years, right?" She asked after picking up some books and checking their titles.

"How do you know I am a first year?" He gave her a challenging look.

"Well, two books in this pile are actually first-year material. So unless, you are repeating the year or are extremely far behind, I think my guess is valid." She responded with a cocky smile.

"Well done, you are very observant." He laughed. "And you are right, of course; I'm starting Hogwarts this year. As for the other books, I just like to be ahead." The boy shrugged.

"Me too." Hermione agreed excitedly. "I love to learn new things as soon as I can."

"I guess we have something in common then. I'm glad we met." The boy said with a sincere tone. "Oh and I completely forgot. My name is Leo Prewett." He extended a hand. _Prewett… Where have I heard that name before?_

"Hermione Rose Evans. And I am also starting Hogwarts this year." She smiled and shook his hand. Something about him just felt like… _home._

"Pleased to meet you, Rosie." He laughed. "Do you know what house you want to be in? I think Ravenclaw suits me best, but I'll probably end up in-"

Leo wasn't able to finish his thought and Hermione wasn't able to correct him on the 'Rosie' thing, because at that exact moment, a short, slightly chubby boy with sandy light hair and round face appeared calling his name.

"Leo! There you are. Your mother is looking for you. She wants to go home." He sounded out of breath.

"I'll be there in a sec. Come here and meet Rosie. She is starting Hogwarts this year as well." Leo replied. The boy looked confused for a second but when he finally noticed Hermione, he managed a shy smile. _What a nice boy. At least he knows not to hit on girls at the age of eleven. A bit of normalcy for a change._

"Hermione Rose Evans." She said stressing her first name and shook the boy's hand. "Are you two related?" She added looking confused. The boys didn't look anything alike.

"Kind of." Leo laughed. "Our mothers are distant cousins or something, and they like to spend time with each other. Peter and I basically grew up together." He added.

"Peter?" Hermione questioned. She didn't like where this was going.

"Peter Pettigrew."The chubby boy replied. "It's really nice to meet you."

_"_Likewise." Hermione replied dryly. _Oh for Merlin's sake. This cannot be happening. _This innocent looking boy was Peter Pettigrew? The bastard who betrayed his best friends and took loving parents away from Harry? Took Lily away?

She wanted to Avada his arse on the spot. He was responsible for so much pain. He was a coward. A coward who was not worth anything. The thing Hermione despised above all was betrayal. And this boy in front of her should have his picture next to the definition of that word.

What was she supposed to do about him? She couldn't tell anyone about him now. Nobody would believe her. She couldn't kill him either. That's not how she dealt with problems. Plus, he hasn't done anything yet. But then again, she couldn't just sit and wait for him to run to his _master _again. So what then? Should she try and change his future? Make him trustworthy? After all, before the war ended, he did change his loyalties. There was some potential in him. Plus, nobody is born evil. Maybe she still had time to prevent him from becoming a true rat. And anyway, there had to be a reason he was sorted into Gryffindor, right?

"Well, guys" Hermione decided to think about the matter more when she got home. "As much as I would like continue talking to you, my parents are waiting for me. And it seems yours are as well."

"Yeah, you're right." Leo laughed. "I'll see you on the Hogwarts Express then, right?" He questioned with a hopeful tone.

"You will." Hermione blushed for some reason. "Bye, Leo." She hesitated. "And bye, Peter."

"Bye." The both said in unison before leaving.

* * *

Everything after that was a bit of a blur for Hermione. She vaguely noted when they went to Madam Malkin's and got their school robes (though she did notice that Snape looked much better in his wizard's clothes. The jet black robes looked perfect with this straight black hair and pale skin tone. Even his posture changed, which made Severus look much more sophisticated. _What a simple change of clothes can do), _or when they got to the Eeylops (well, they went to Magical Menagerie first, but since Hermione couldn't find Crookshanks anywhere, they left after a few minutes) and bought a beautiful eagle owl, whom they've decided to name Shakespeare. It was quite expensive, but since it was a gift to both girls, their parents did not mind too much. Hermione barely even noticed when all of their shopping was finally done and they went back to the muggle world.

The reason for her lack of concentration wasn't even Peter. No, not at all. The thing was… Only after her meeting with him she realized how many things she actually was supposed to change in this time. She had to think about Petunia, Snape, Pettigrew, and all the others. Moreover, she also had to think about her main mission. The Horcruxes, the Chamber of Secrets. The more she thought about it, the more desperate she got. There was just too much to do.

Little did Hermione know that her life would only get more complicated in a few hours.

* * *

**A/N: Thank you for reading! I'm not extremely happy with this chapter. I'm more of an action/romance kind of girl. To be honest, I just want her to go to Hogwarts and start kicking some ass. But… This had to be done, I just hope I didn't disappoint you.**

**Explanations: About the wands. Well, I left Lily's wood the same and added unicorn hair (I think it suits her), For Snape I've decided on Hawthorn mainly because it symbolises conflicted nature, which is emphasised by the phoenix feather. Sirius got dogwood, because… well, he is Sirius. A bit of cliché, I know, but I think it suits him. As for Hermione… I've decided on the combination of Cedar and dragon hearthstring, because it shows that she will fight for those she loves and will do everything to protect them. I think that summarises the story itself rather well. Hmmm… what else… Oh yeah, Leo… I've kind of created him, but not out of nowhere. I was looking at the Black family tree and I saw that there were Ignatius Prewett and Lucretia Black. And I just thought it would be interesting if they had a child, since I assume Ignatius was an uncle of Molly. Okay, I think that's it. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions.**

**QUESTION TIME: I'm not sure what to do about Leo. I have two options. Either he will be gay or he will be competition for Sirius. I'm leaning more towards competition, because I'm not sure I can present him as gay without putting too many clichés into his character. Let me know if you agree.**


	5. Chapter 5- The Dream

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, the lovely J. K. Rowling does.**

* * *

Chapter 5 – The Dream

_Hermione ran through the Hogwarts' corridors. She didn't know why or where she was running; she just knew that it was extremely important for her to continue. Nobody was chasing her. In fact, the school seemed completely deserted._

_"Why am I running?" Hermione questioned herself. She was just about to stop and rethink what was happening, when she reached a dead-end. _No, not a dead-end._ There was actually a statue in front of her; a very familiar statue._

_"Password?" The gargoyle questioned._

_"Destiny." Hermione answered without even thinking about it._

_The statue moved out of the way and spiral staircase was revealed. She wasn't sure if she wanted to go up. Hermione was still confused; and she didn't like being confused. She liked control. She liked knowing everything. She did not fancy the idea of doing something without knowing either the cause or the consequence._

_For those reasons she was seriously thinking about just turning around and leaving. But she couldn't. Something inside of Hermione told her that it was necessary for her to go up. She had a feeling that if she did, she would get all the answers she was looking for._

_"Ah, what the hell." She exclaimed and started climbing the stairs._

_When she finally reached the top and opened the door, she froze. It was Dumbledore's office. Just as it looked in her sixth year. _Well, almost. _After further inspection she realised that all the paintings from the wall had disappeared and were replaced by one particular portrait, which hung just above the headmaster's desk. A portrait of her. Of the 'old' Hermione, Hermione Granger. Bushy hair, know-it-all look… yep, it was her._

_"Well, hello there." The portrait smiled. "I was wondering when I'll see you. Take a seat."_

_"This is exceptionally awkward and creepy." Hermione spoke more to herself that to the portrait while sitting down on a chair in front of the painting._

_"I know." The 'old' Hermione laughed. "But it was bound to happen."_

_"Was it?" The small girl questioned._

_"Indeed it was." Hermione Granger nodded. "I am here to keep you entertained and give you some advice, before the real host arrives." She added._

_"The real host?" little Hermione questioned._

_"Do not worry, nothing to be afraid of." The older woman replied. "Now, Hermione, since we don't have that much time to spend alone, I would like to get to the point. Are you alright with that?"_

_"Well…" _Not in the slightest. "_Okay. I'm listening. Go on." The girl sighed._

_"Great. You have probably realised by now that you're sleeping." The portrait waited for Hermione's nod and continued. "Since you know that, you might also have guessed that I'm playing a part of your conscience in this particular dream." The woman noted. "I've heard your thoughts, Hermione. Your worries, your hopes; everything." She gave the girl a meaningful look. "And I am here to tell you that despite everything, you must remember yourself. You must live, Hermione. You want to fix everyone's lives, but you need to remember to deal with yours as well. Only then can the real purpose of the box be achieved." The woman insisted._

_"I understand." The girl started slowly. "And I plan to do exactly that after I am done with my mission." She tried to reassure the witch._

_"That's the thing." The portrait smiled sadly. "It might be too late for you to get your 'happy ending' if you ignore your own needs for too long, Hermione."_

_"Voldemort comes first." The 'new' Hermione all but shouted. "I cannot just ignore the problem and pretend to be all 'sunshine and rainbows' while people are dying around me!"_

_"I am certain that is not what your old self was trying to suggest, Miss Evans." Hermione heard an old, masculine voice behind her. When she turned in her seat, Hermione's mouth dropped open._

_"Are you-" She started._

_"Merlin?" The man walked passed her and sat in Dumbledore's chair. "Why yes, yes I am." He chuckled._

_Hermione forgot how to breathe. There, in front of her, was the greatest wizard that has ever lived. And he looked just like she imagined he would. Long white beard (which would make Dubledore's look like a goatee), deep blue eyes, navy and yellow robes, and a cone-shaped sorcerer's hat. All in all, he looked like he just stepped out of a child's storybook._

_"It- It's a pleasure to meet you, sir." Hermione stuttered._

_"Likewise, dear." Merlin smiled at her. "Now, about the issue at hand. Hermione, you need to understand that no matter how many tasks you assign yourself, you can still live and be happy. It's all about time management, really." The old man chuckled._

_"Sir, with all due respect," Hermione tried to sound polite, "I do not believe I can afford to be distracted. At least not until I am done with my mission. I came here for one reason, and one reason only – to ensure a better future. I cannot take this task lightly."_

_The wizard sighed._

_"Very well, Hermione. I understand that I cannot change your opinion now." He gave her a sad look. "However, rest assured that there will come a time when you will realize that it is possible, and maybe even helpful, to let others into your life. I am sure you're aware of how important friendships can be during troubling times." He gave her a meaningful look. "For now, I just want you to think about it. This predicament, despite being of great importance, is not the reason for our meeting." Merlin added._

_"It is not?" Hermione sat up straighter. Merlin did have a point with his earlier comments, but Hermione still believed that her own life was of less significance for the time being._

_"No." Merlin replied. "As a matter of fact, the reason for my, let's say 'visit', is much more delicate."_

_"Oh?" Hermione questioned._

_"Yes. And I believe that if you agree to help me, it could benefit the both of us and your mission. Unfortunately, it would also take a considerable amount of your time too, which would not help the point I was trying to make earlier." He added forlornly. "Anyhow, what do you know about me, Hermione?"_

_"Well, sir." Hermione started not knowing what information could be important so she decided to go with the basics._ _"You are considered to be the greatest sorcerer of all time. You were thought by the founders of Hogwarts; Salazar Slytherin, in particular, since you were sorted into his house. You were also always fond of muggles, which is why you became an advisor to King Arthur. Furthermore, you are known for your ability to create original potions, as well as all kinds of spells. Most importantly, it is said that you were the only wizard to push magic to its limits. This is because it is a common knowledge that you were able to transform into different kinds of forms. And, well, you've created a mechanism that can avoid time travel paradoxes, which has not been done before or after your time." She finished._

_"Fascinating." Merlin chuckled. "Of course, history tends to ignore some of my darker times, for which I am rather grateful." He smiled. "My next question might seem slightly off topic, but I assure you it will make sense after a moment." The wizard continued. "Are you aware of what the carving on your new wand is and what it represents?"_

_"Uhm." Hermione was slightly confused. "The carving has a pattern of Quaternary Celtic knot. As for what it represents…" Hermione hesitated. "It is usually considered to represent four seasons, four directions, or the four elements. Sometimes it is said to symbolise the Four Treasures of the Tuatha Dé Danann– the spear, the stone, the cauldron, and the sword. All of them are said to have magical properties, but there are quite a few different theories of what those properties actually are. They are also believed to correspond to the four elements, and can be found in the four different places that represent the four directions." Hermione concluded and noticed how Merlin's eyes showed excitement at the last part._

_"Well, Hermione, you are truly the brightest witch of your age." Merlin noted amused. "Yes, the four treasures are, in fact, what I want to talk to you about. When that wand chose you, I was finally sure that I could trust you with the task." He added._

_"The task, sir?" Hermione asked nervously. More work was not what she longed for. However, how could she say no to Merlin?_

_"Yes, Hermione." Merlin nodded. "The task of creating more boxes as the one you've used." He clarified. "You see, one finds a reason, from time to time, to search for a way to change time. Your case proves that. And as much as you and I would like to believe that once you're done, the world will stay peaceful forever, we have to admit that history tends to repeat itself in one way or another. And when it does, it would be in everyone's best interest to ensure that there is a way to fix it, if the things get out of hand. Wouldn't you agree?" The sorcerer questioned._

_"Of course, sir." Hermione answered slowly. "And I realise how important this is, which is why I would be honored to do it. However, sir, you must understand that I would like to succeed in my own task beforehand." She finished._

_Hermione wanted to help Merlin, she really did. And of course more boxes were needed. Hermione couldn't imagine what would have happened, if she wasn't able to use her own. She wanted to give future generations the same chance. But she had to think about her mission as well. She couldn't just abandon the reason she came here in the first place and let everyone die all over again._

_"I understand, Hermione." Merlin smiled. "But as I've said before, this could benefit you mission as well, which is why I would like to suggest collecting at least one or two of the Four Treasures of the Tuatha Dé Danann before you are done. Yes, connecting all of them is the way to create a time travel device, but they are also useful separately." He noted. "Remember how I asked you what you knew about me?" The wizard asked and waited for Hermione's confirmation. Once she nodded, he continued. "Well, all those things that I am known for would not be possible if it wasn't for the treasures." He smiled at Hermione's shocked expression. "Would you like to hear my story, Miss Evans?" He inquired._

_"Yes, sir, I would love to." Hermione answered excitedly. After all, many people would kill to hear about Merlin first hand. She was not stupid enough to pass on that opportunity._

_"Hmm, where should I start?" Merlin looked thoughtful. "I was a powerful wizard even when I was a child. The worst thing was, I was aware of my power; which made me rather confident and ambitious. I guess that is why I was sorted into Slytherin." The man smiled fondly. "During my years at Hogwarts I searched for the ways to increase my power further. I was learning all the spells I could and I could be seen in the library more often than anywhere else. However, it wasn't enough for me." His brows furrowed. "After my fifth year, I've realised that I had nothing more to learn from my teachers. I knew everything. I've read everything. I was exceptional in both dark and light magic." After hearing Hermione's gasp, he was sure to clarify. "You must understand that those times were different; there was almost no distinction between light and dark magic. It was only… magic." He explained. "And I was good at doing that magic. However, I wanted more. I wanted to be unique and my thirst for knowledge was still unsatisfied." Merlin sighed. "So imagine my happiness when I found a book about magical Celtic treasures and where to find them" He continued. "Although the book didn't really specify the powers of the treasures, it did say that the magic they held was extremely powerful, which was enough for me to go after them." The wizard smiled._

_"I found the spear first." He carried on. "I was interested because the book said that the ruling deity of the spear was fire. And since the fire is a symbol for illumination and knowledge, it seemed as a good start. Let me tell you something, dear; that spear changed my life forever. I was right with my reasoning. The spear did hold the power of knowledge, which I am sure you, Hermione, would be able to appreciate." He chuckled. "The spear provided me with the understanding of magic itself; something that only a few wizards are able to comprehend. Moreover, once you understand something, you can manipulate it, change it, or even improve it. And I started doing just that." There was a glint in his eyes._

_"After a little break and self-improvement, I've decided to look for another treasure- the stone." He continued his tale. "I wasn't sure what I could learn from it, since the spear was useful enough, but my curiosity got the better of me." The wizard grinned. "And when I found it, I was glad it did. You see, just as the spear, the stone held knowledge, although it was completely different. The stone provided me with the knowledge of my own magic, as opposed to the magic in general. It let me understand my limitations as well as all the possibilities. Because of the stone, I've learned how to transform into any form. It was dangerous, mind you, but it was possible, nonetheless." He added._

_"Since both of the treasures proved to be valuable, I went after the cauldron next." He smiled at the memory. "It took me some time, but I managed to get a hold of it. I have to admit, I was slightly disappointed with the cauldron. I expected to have some kind of epiphany after finding it, but, when compared to the previous findings, this was not as special, or so it seemed at the time." He added. "You see the cauldron had a property of making any potion you told it to as long as you said the instructions. You did not need the ingredients either; it provided them for you, which was rather significant. The best features of the cauldron, however, were the writings on it. There were instructions for ten potions that nobody has heard about before. Two of them are actually available to the general population nowadays, because I've decided to share them with the world. Those are the Polyjuice potion and Felix Felicis." Merlin chuckled seeing Hermione's stunned expression. "Yes, I thought you may have heard of them. Try to imagine how useful the other eight might be, if these two were part of the original ten." He said sounding amused._

_"Anyway, after the cauldron, I've decided to finish the collection and get the sword." The wizard carried on without waiting for Hermione to think more about the potions or any other previous treasures."The book said that it can increase the power of the owner significantly, even though it did not specify how." He added. "When I finally got a hold of it, I've realised that it was all worth it. The sword, similarly to the stone provided me with understanding of my own magic. Particularly, it provided me with the ability to control the strength and the direction of the magic using my mind. I was able to collect all the magic of my body before casting the spell, which made my spells notably more powerful than my opponents'; whose magic was simply flowing through their bodies and their wands at a certain speed." Merlin clarified. "Most importantly, I figured out how to control my mind; to close it, to expand it, to invade the mind of others. That was the time that Legilimency and Occlumency came to be." He noted._

_"And that is where the story is starting to come to an end." The wizard chuckled. "Once I had all four of the treasures, my life felt almost complete. Moreover, at that time I've also noticed that I lost the interest of becoming the most powerful wizard or the ruler of the world." He continued with an amused expression. "During my travels, I met a lot of interesting people, most of whom were muggles, who helped me and provided me with shelter and food. I found a new appreciation for the world because of that, and managed to change my ways. In fact, the journey helped me realise that I was meant to help people and maybe even share my knowledge with others. I left the wizarding world, became adviser to the king, and took Vivien as my apprentice." He smiled sadly after the mention of his past lover. "While teaching her, I've noticed that the treasures could be used as one and showed a way of creating a time travel device. It took me a lot of time and significant amount of magic to finish the boxes, but I was able to do it. Since it was taking me long to recover afterwards, Vivien saw it as an opportunity to prove her own power. I wasn't extremely weak, but she still managed to trap and get rid of me for good." Merlin continued and Hermione could see a single tear running down his cheek. "After some time she came to her senses and realised what she's done, but it was too late. Therefore, she returned the treasures to their rightful places and decided to protect the boxes, making sure they were used by righteous individuals. She used a spell of her own invention on the boxes that made them select the users. I'm quite grateful to her for that one." He laughed, although it sounded slightly forced._

_After a minute it took him to recover, he redirected his attention back to Hermione and smiled._

_"Any questions?" The wizard asked rather playfully._

_"About a thousand." Hermione replied still not really managing to process all the information she has just received._

_"I would love to answer all of them." He started chuckling. "However, our meeting is coming to an end. What I need you to do is to think all of this over and decide whether or not you want to go looking for the treasures. If you decide to do so, you need to analyse the book called 'Celts', which can be found in the Hogwarts' library, because, unfortunately, I'm bound by Celts ancient magic to not disclose the locations. The process of finding the treasures is in itself enlightening and magic related, trust me." He added._

_"Thank you for this opportunity, sir, I promise to think about it. The treasures could help me immensely" Hermione replied. "But I hope you do understand that if I decide to go after them, there is virtually no chance of me letting loose and 'living a little', which is what you suggested at the beginning of the meeting." She added in a-matter-of-fact tone._

_"Oh, Hermione," Merlin started with a smile on his face, "if you want it enough, you could get the best of both worlds. As I've said it before- it is all about the time management."_

Those were the last words Hermione heard before she woke up.

* * *

**A/N: Thanks for reading! What did you guys think? Too much? I want her to at least get the spear before she has to deal with the dear old Voldy, because I already have a plan. By the way, looking for the treasures would entail a bit of travelling and culture exploring, which my awesome reviewer ****_Carick of Hunter Moon _****has suggested.**

**Ps. I found the** **Four Treasures of the Tuatha Dé Danann on the internet when looking at celtic patterns. I thought it could be useful. I sort of invented their 'magical' properties based on their descriptions and the elements that they belong to.**


	6. Chapter 6- The Station

**A/N: Hey everyone! I am so sorry it took so long. I'm not going to promise it won't happen again, because it didn't work that well last time. But I promise that I'm not going to stop until this story is done and I already started working on the next chapter. Thank you for the support! Speaking of which… I cannot believe it! 203 followers, 93 favorites… YOU GUYS ARE AMAZING! I love you so much! And a big thanks to the reviewers as well! I really care about everything that you suggest, like, or disapprove of. It's extremely helpful and you're doing a wonderful job. Thanks again! I hope you don't mind my private replies and that they are up to your expectations. Anyway, here's the new chapter, I hope you'll enjoy it.**

**Random note: In Snape's memories, Evans family was present on the platform so I'm letting them cross. Just thought I should mention it. And one other thing. I'm using most of the original dialogue between Lily and Snape in the compartment part, with minor changes to include Hermione.**

* * *

Chapter 6 -The Station

After the dream, Hermione decided to take a break and live a little. Not because Merlin and the old Hermione told her to, but because she was at a dead end. She needed more information. Information, which could only be found at Hogwarts. For now, Hermione only had her little plans and theories; and, to be honest, going over them a million times was making her a tad crazy. So, for the next few weeks she enjoyed life with her family, even Petunia (who actually became a bit more bearable after the family's general excitement over visiting the Diagon Alley diminished). It was good for her as well. Hermione almost forgot what it was like to be a kid; so carefree and looked after.

In addition to her improved mental stability, she also loved spending time with Lily. Well, Lily and Snape, to be precise. It seemed like the potion master was becoming a permanent part of their lives. _Pity. _She has also noticed that they were becoming much closer. Snape and Lily, that is. He was still rather wary of Hermione for whatever reason and avoided being left alone with her at all costs. It was funny, really. Though, she supposed it was fair; she didn't like him much either.

Despite all of that, however, the three of them still managed to have some great moments together. They spent a lot of the time just reading their newly acquired books in the sun and discussing the possibilities of magic (which Hermione considered to be the best pastime one could ask for). And… As much as she hated to admit it, Snape was highly intelligent and he did have some interesting tales to tell (although, she _was_ rather annoyed having to pretend not to know about most of the stuff he was talking about – _So the ghosts actually exist?! Wow, that's fascinating!)_. After a few heated discussions over not-so-important things like correct wand motions, Hermione realized that she actually had a bit of respect for him. Respect, though; she still didn't think of him as a friend, and she sure as hell didn't trust the snake. But she thought that maybe one day that could change.

Maybe it was too optimistic for her to think that, but at the moment her life was pretty good and that gave her the much needed hope. She was going to Hogwarts tomorrow which only improved her mood. Everything seemed to be coming along together nicely. Hermione was already imagining the feeling of freedom she would get once she finally got to use her wand and test her magic properly. More importantly, she couldn't wait to lose herself in the library, surrounded by all that extremely valuable information. She was beyond excited for tomorrow. All those thoughts were actually making her feel, dare she say, _giddy?_

"Sis, you've got to see what Severus and I found! This is unbelievable." Lily exclaimed entering their room and handing her sister a piece of paper. _So much for peaceful silence._

"I'm sure it is, sis." Hermione laughed taking it.

Once she read it, her smile vanished. It was Dumbledore's letter to Petunia, explaining why she couldn't come to Hogwarts. Hermione remembered Harry telling her the story before. About Lily confronting Petunia on the platform and fueling her sister's jealousy even more. This was not good. _Why cannot everything go right just once?_

"Where did you get this from, Lily?" Hermione asked silently.

"Sev and I found it in her room." Lily answered amused, not noticing Hermione's disapproving look. "Can you believe she actually wrote a letter to the headmaster?"

"Yes, yes I can." Hermione said meeting her sister's eyes. "What I cannot believe is the fact that Snape convinced you to snoop around our sister's room and make fun of the fact that she wants to be like us."

"I'm not making fun of her." Lily replied defensively. "And Severus did not convince me of anything. We found it by accident." She added angrily.

"Oh, so you just 'accidentally' went into Petunia's room?" Hermione questioned.

"What is your problem?!" Lily exclaimed not bothering to keep her tone down anymore. "We were bored, that's all. Just looking for a way to pass the time."

"But this is private, Lily. And you know Petunia will go mental if she sees that the letter is not there anymore, not to mention if you tell her about it." Hermione sighed. She didn't like fighting with Lily. "You should have talked to me, before you went in there."

"Oh no, don't you dare get all _mummy_ with me, 'Mione!" Lily shouted angrily. "First of all, I was going to put it back, I just wanted to show the letter to _you_. And I was never going to confront Tuney, you should know better than that." She almost cried.

"You may not want to, but Snape would definitely find it amusing and you seem to like his ideas." Hermione said accusingly.

"Why do you keep calling him Snape?" Lily suddenly became confused. _Oops. _"He is our friend and he would never do anything to hurt us or Petunia."

"As if. He would never do anything to hurt _you, _Lily. Petunia and I are a safe game." Hermione almost laughed. Was her sister talking about the same guy? "And I call him Snape, because he is your friend, not mine. Personally, I find him and his ideas rather outdated and quite alarming." She continued with a hint of her know-it-all voice. "I know you remember the branch incident. He's not good news, Lily."_Well, the cat is out of the bag now._

"You sound just like Petunia." Lily basically hissed at her. "It was an accident. She was spying on us. Sev couldn't control it." She tried to explain, but it was obvious that she wasn't sure of herself.

"Oh come on, Lils!" Hermione threw her arms in the air. "We both know that's not true. Yes, his magic is powered by emotions rather than being deliberate, but he is smart enough to know how to control it. He _told _us that, Lily. Don't be so naïve." _When did this conversation became all about Snape?_

"You don't know what you're talking about." Lily shook her head. "You're just jealous." She accused her sister.

"Jealous?" Hermione took a step back. "What could I possibly be jealous of?"

"You're jealous, because I'm friends with Sev and I don't spend enough time with you. That's why you don't like spending time with him. And that's why you accused him of all those things." She said pointing her finger at her.

Hermione rolled her eyes. _How childish. _Then again, they were only eleven years old. _Sort of._

"Did he tell you that?" She laughed sarcastically. "Are you blind? You know he is trying to turn you against me, right?"

"He doesn't have to." Lily answered angrily. "You're doing it perfectly fine all by yourself. Maybe you should go and give Tuney some pointers!" She shouted, grabbed the letter from Hermione's hands and left the room, not forgetting to slam the door on the way.

Hermione sat there shocked. _What the hell just happened?_ Her rational side wanted to go to Lily and straighten things up. The whole argument was just so… unnecessary. _Well, at least the Snape part of it. _The eleven year old side of her, however, was pissed off and way too proud to go and apologize.

Her emotions got so conflicted, her head started spinning.

"I'll just deal with it tomorrow." She said aloud and went to bed, wand in her hand. Tomorrow was a big day.

* * *

When Hermione woke up, Lily's bed was already made. _She really doesn't want to talk to me then. Fine. _Instead of sulking or confronting her sister, Hermione decided it was best to give her some time and let her calm down. Sooner or later, they would talk it out. After all, they were sisters. They might get angry at each other from time to time, but they still loved one another and these silly arguments could never last. Not between Hermione and Lily, at least. _It will probably be over before we reach the station._

That logic improved her mood greatly and she began to feel excited again.

For the first time in what seemed like ages, she put a lot of effort into getting ready for the day. It's not that she was shallow and wanted everyone to notice her, but she did not have much luck the last time on her first day at Hogwarts. _Or the first month._

She knew it was stupid to want to be accepted. That was not why she was there. She had plans and those did not really include having a successful social life. But for some reason, she did not want to be excluded either. _Bad memories? Maybe. _And if her past taught her anything, if _Harry_ taught her anything, it was that friendship was a great power that provided answers when everything else seemed to fail. Her top priority would still be her mission, but maybe, just maybe, she didn't need to sacrifice herself completely for it. She would do it, of course, if she needed to, but maybe there was an option of having both needs satisfied. After all, that was what Merlin had suggested, right? And who was she to question Merlin? She would just try it out. An experiment of some sorts. If it became too much, she would concentrate solely on her mission.

Hermione looked at the mirror once more, before leaving. She didn't look half bad. She was wearing a nice A-line Halter dress that went to her knees and was a shade of scarlet red (which she considered to be a silent statement that she was a true Gryffindor), paired with a nice pair of simple black flats. She left her hair down and the soft waves looked just perfect. All in all, she looked cute for an eleven year old.

Giving herself a nod of approval she took her school trunk and went downstairs.

* * *

The breakfast was almost unbearable. Lily and Hermione were pointedly ignoring one another. Petunia was actually looking through the window and ignoring everyone. It was a miracle that their parents didn't comment on that. Though, that might be thanks to Lily, who shifted the focus by talking excitedly to them about how she cannot wait to see the castle and start her classes. She also talked a lot about how she wished Snape and she would end up in the Slytherin and have a lot of fun. Hermione just had to roll her eyes at that (at which point Lily presented her with a glare). _Fun._ It was a miracle that their parents didn't notice the exchange, or at least didn't say anything. Anyhow, Hermione was more than happy when it was time to leave the house.

However, the ride to the station was not much better. Hermione actually swallowed her pride and tried to talk to Lily, but her sister pretended that she couldn't hear her. After a few tries Hermione gave up and opened _Hogwarts, A History. Well, I tried. It's her turn now._ She wasn't scared that her sister would ignore her forever, but the whole situation was getting rather annoying.

After what seemed like a few hours, they were finally at King's Cross, with about thirty minutes to spare. They reached platform 9 ¾ without much trouble, but their parents and Petunia were hesitant to enter.

"Girls," their mother started. "I know Mrs. McGonagall said that we will be able to enter with you, but-well, it's a wall."

"Mom," Lily laughed. "Don't worry. All you need to do is hold our hands." It was interesting how Lily was completely calm in this situation. During her first time around, Hermione was absolutely terrified and almost convinced that she would smash into the barrier.

"Yes, Rhea, don't worry. Everything will be alright." Their father tried to put a brave face on, though Hermione could see that he didn't like the idea of walking into a wall at all.

"But-" Rhea Evans tried to argue with her husband. "Even if we do get in, how will we get back, Henry? The girls will be on the train. Are we going to ask strangers to hold our hands?"

"Mom, seriously. Were you listening to the Professor at all?" Hermione rolled her eyes playfully. "The barrier is not protected against muggle interference from the inside. You will just walk right out. You know that."

"Yes, yes I knew that. Of course." Her mother took a deep breath. "Okay, let's go then." She added with a determined expression and took Hermione's hand, before stepping forwards towards the barrier and closing her eyes.

When Hermione and her mother went through, they stepped away to make room for Lily, who crossed shortly after holding hands with their father and a reluctant looking Petunia.

Once they were all in, Hermione finally let herself to look around. There, in front of her was the Hogwarts express. Exactly the way she remembered it; all shiny red and magnificent. To be honest, the platform was probably the only good memory that the Death Eaters didn't manage to ruin for her. Simply because those crazy bastards didn't find it to be a good enough target for them (which was odd considering how disastrous an attack on this place could possibly be).

It was good to be back here; where it all began. The train looked wonderful. In fact, the whole place looked amazing. Full of wizard families, all ignorant of the fact that their lives were most definitely going to change in a few years, because of a power-crazy bastard. Full of hope, excitement, and happiness. At this point in time everything was great, easy.

"Are you ready, girls?" Hermione's father interrupted her thoughts.

"Yes, daddy." Both Lily and Hermione replied in unison. After which Lily shot Hermione another glare.

"Okay, now, we've talked about this." Their father continued not noticing the distance between the twins. "Do not forget to write us at least once a week, that's an order." He laughed. "Study hard, but don't forget to spend time with your friends and always be polite to everyone, especially your teachers. Are we clear?"

"Yes, daddy." The twins said together again and this time even their dad noticed the heated looks, which, however, he chose to ignore for the moment.

"Great!" He exclaimed, cutting the tension down a bit. "Now say your goodbyes and go meet your future classmates." He finished giving twins a hug.

When Lily moved from their mom to Petunia, Hermione tensed. _I hope she doesn't mention the letter. Oh please Lily, don't mention the letter. _She chanted those words like a mantra, while hugging her mother.

"Hermione, honey, can I talk to you for a bit?" Her mother asked. "Privately?"

"Uhm, of course mum." Hermione replied slightly confused. "What is it about?"

Once they were a few feet away from the family, her mother looked her in the eyes; an unreadable expression on her face.

"Hermione," she started hesitantly. "Are you sure you want to go to Hogwarts? You seemed less excited than Lily was for the whole summer. And today you barely spoke at all." She continued. "It would be okay if you wanted to stay with us. You know that, right? Nobody is pressuring you to go, just because your sister is going." She added quickly.

_Wow, where did that came from?_

_"_No mum, it's fine. Really." Hermione smiled. "I really want to go, trust me." _You have no idea._

_"_You're sure?" Her mother asked, suspicion evidenced on her face.

"Positive, mum." Hermione laughed. "But thank you for giving me an opportunity." She smiled genuinely.

"Of course, honey." Rhea Evans let a smile to appear on her face. "I love you and I'll always support all of your choices."

"Thanks, mum." Hermione became rather emotional and couldn't help but give her mother another hug, after which they finally moved back to where her father was standing.

"Alright there, ladies?" Her father joked.

"Of course, dad." Hermione laughed. "I'll go say bye to Petunia. Love you!" She added before moving towards both of her sisters who seemed to be having a heated discussion.

"Apparently wizards poke their noses in everywhere!" Petunia shouted loud enough for Hermione to hear. _Shit. Lily mentioned the letter. "_Freak!" Her sister added and rushed off in the direction of their parents. Unfortunately for her, Hermione was in the way.

"What do you want?" Petunia said angrily.

"I _wanted_ to say goodbye." Hermione replied annoyed. "But after what I just heard, I want to tell you that what you just did was horrible and mean. You should be nicer to Lily and go apologize."

"As if I'm going to listen to you." Petunia said mockingly. "And if she wanted me to be nice, maybe she should keep her nose out of my business."

"Look, Petunia." Hermione sighed. "Yes, Lily shouldn't have read the letter, but-"

"You knew about this?!" Petunia shrieked, interrupting Hermione. "You were in on it, weren't you?" She said accusingly. "I can't believe this. That stupid boy and you need to leave me alone. I hate all of you, you freaks!" She shouted loud enough for a few people to turn around.

"Listen here, _Tuney_." Hermione said in a hushed tone, trying to tone down the conversation. "That little act of yours might work on Lily, but it's sure as hell not going to work on me. You need to get over yourself and all the stupid problems you have with us." She added angrily. "You might not have magic in you, but you're smart, pretty, and talented. You excel in a lot of things and you're forgetting about it because you cannot levitate a flower in mid-air. That's stupid."

"How dare you-"

"I am not finished." Hermione had stopped her with a hand. "I understand that this situation might be difficult for you, but you need to adapt and find other ways to deal with your jealousy issues instead of tormenting your sisters. Otherwise, you will ruin what could be an amazing life and end up being a boring, nosy, and unlikeable housewife with over-spoiled children and a snob husband." Hermione sighed and looked her sister straight into the eyes. "I don't want that kind of life for you, Petunia. I know you're capable of more; much more. You need to let us in, Tuney. We love you and want you to be happy. Remember that." Hermione finished and left without waiting for a response. She wanted to see if Lily was okay.

Looking around the platform Hermione noticed that her twin wasn't there, so she took her trunk and decided to try her luck on the train.

After a long search, she found Lily in a compartment at the end of the train and was about to go in when she noticed the two boys sitting on the other side. The sight of one of them almost made her faint. James Potter looked almost exactly like Harry. Black hair, same built. If it wasn't for the darker eyes, Hermione could easily mistake him for her best friend. Well, that and the fact that James Potter, similar to Sirius black sitting beside him, somehow seemed to just radiate self-confidence and power. That, of course, could have been caused by the clearly expensive wizard robes that both boys were wearing, but Hermione was pretty sure it was just the general aura surrounding them.

Still slightly hesitant, Hermione took a deep breath and entered the compartment. Facing people she knew (or knew of) was inevitable anyway. She only hoped that Sirius forgot their little incident at the wand shop. She would rather avoid this encounter for as long as humanly possible, but she had to check up on Lily, who, now that she could see her properly, seemed to be crying her eyes out.

"Lily? Are you okay? I heard what Petunia said to you." Hermione said once she sat next to her sister, the two boys forgotten.

"I don't want to talk to you." Her sister managed to say in between her tears.

"But Lils, I just want to help." Hermione said sadly.

"Not now, 'Mione. Please." Lily answered in a pained voice and turned to the window.

"Fine." Hermione sighed and went to sit on the other side. If Lily needed space, she was willing to give it to her. But as soon as she calmed down, they were going to settle that stupid argument. This was enough.

Hermione was almost finished with another chapter of _Hogwarts, A History, _when Snape entered the compartment. He was already in his robes and seemed to be relieved to see Lily (Hermione wondered if he even noticed her presence). He was probably searching compartments for a long time.

He sat down opposite Lily, who only spared him a glance accompanied by "I don't want to talk to you". _Is she going to start all her conversations like that from now on?_

"Why not?" Snape questioned, clearly confused.

"Tuney h-hates me. Because we saw that letter from Dumbledore." Lily answered with a teary voice.

"So what?" Snape asked again, obviously not seeing any problem with that. _Prick._

"So she's my sister!" Lily all but shouted,

"She is only a -" Snape caught himself before finishing the sentence. "But we're going!" he added, trying to cheer her up. "This is it! We're off to Hogwarts!" He exclaimed happily and it seemed to affect Lily, who was almost smiling now. _How is it possible that he can comfort her and I cannot_? "You'd better be in Slytherin." He threatened playfully.

"Slytherin?" James Potter interrupted the conversation. _Merlin, that's not good. _"Who wants to be in Slytherin? I think I'd leave, wouldn't you?" He directed his question at Sirius.

"My whole family has been in Slytherin," Sirius answered without much emotion in his voice.

"Blimey," James took a double look at his friend, "and I thought you seemed all right!"

"Maybe I'll break the tradition." Sirius said with a grin.

Before the conversation could continue, Hermione couldn't help herself, but get involved.

"Actually, there is nothing wrong with Slytherin as a house." She said in a know-it-all voice. "It praises ambition, resourcefulness, and leadership; there is nothing wrong with that. Just because some of the people turn out to be awful, doesn't mean the whole house deserves to be hated." She couldn't help but notice that Snape looked pleasantly surprised. After all, it was always obvious that she disliked his stories about that house.

"I take it you want to be a Slytherin then?" Sirius snorted.

"As a matter of fact, I do not." Hermione almost stuck her tongue out. "I see myself as more of a Gryffindor type of girl." She added with a genuine smile. She almost laughed when Sirius seemed to be lost for words.

"Me too!" James took over the conversation. ""'Gryffindor, where dwell the brave at heart!'" He added, holding an imaginary sword.

This time Hermione laughed. It was going better than she expected. Maybe they could actually get along. Before she could say something else, they all heard a snort coming from Snape's direction.

"Got a problem with that?" James asked, already looking irritated.

"No" Snape said with a sneer. "If you'd rather be brawny than brainy- "

"Where're you hoping to go, seeing as you're neither?" Sirius interrupted and both James and he started laughing. _Damn it! It was going so well._

"Come on, Severus, let's find another compartment." Lily said, standing up and taking her things. "'Mione, are you coming with us?" She added hesitantly yet with a rather encouraging expression.

"Oooooooo..." both boys imitated Lily's voice, though Hermione ignored them.

"You guys go. I'll catch up with you shortly." Hermione answered standing up and looking for her trunk.

"See ya, Snivellus!" James shouted when Lily was closing the door. Once again, both boys started laughing uncontrollably.

"That wasn't very nice." Hermione said calmly while taking her trunk down. "I think you should be nice to your future classmates, if you want them to respect you."

"It's a good thing we don't care what you think then, isn't it?" Sirius said with a glare. _Hmm, maybe he does remember me._

"I suppose." Hermione shrugged. "Just so you know, that little stunt you guys pulled just now was not really _Gryffindory _of you." She added looking at both of them and left the compartment. _And I thought we could actually be friends_.

As she closed the door, she ran straight into someone and found herself sitting on the floor.

"We've got to stop meeting like this." Hermione heard Leo's laughter. "Come on, let's get you back up." He gave her a hand.

"Hey, Leo, how are you?" Hermione asked, straightening up her dress and looking him up and down. His resemblance to the Weasley twins was still shocking to Hermione. _They must be related. There is no other way._

"I'm good, Rosie, how are you?" Leo smiled.

"My name is not Rosie." Hermione rolled her eyes.

"I prefer Rosie, Rosie." Leo laughed. "I think it suits you very well." He winked, causing a blush to appear on Hermione's face. _What the hell is wrong with me?_

"Be that as it may, I still would like to be called Hermione." She tried to sound normal.

"Not going to happen, Rosie." Leo shook his head to prove a point. "Anyway, want to come sit with me, Peter and this other guy who's starting this year?" He questioned.

"I really shouldn't." Hermione answered hesitantly. "I promised my sister and her friend I'd sit with them." She explained.

"Oh, come on." Leo gave her a beautiful smile. "Just come and sit with us for a few minutes and you can go to them later. They won't even notice." _Or care, actually. Lily was probably still a bit angry._

"For a few minutes." Hermione agreed. Leo's compartment could prove to be a good distraction to Hermione's problems. Well, despite the fact that Pettigrew was there. She didn't like that boys company and she was still doubtful whether it was possible to turn him to the light side or whether he needed to be taken care of, so to speak.

* * *

When Hermione entered the compartment, she gasped. The 'other' guy that Leo was talking about was no other than her beloved teacher Remus Lupin. He looked much better than he did in her past. Because he was still young, he didn't have any scars yet (that she could see), his light hair seemed to be taken care of and even his pose seemed healthier, if that was possible. His robes seemed a little worn off, but besides that, he looked really well.

After all the greetings, the four of them started talking. Well, in all fairness, Leo and Hermione did most of the talking. She noticed that both Remus and Peter seemed to be on the shy side. They still participated but weren't pushing their opinions as much, even though they were only talking about their future subjects and the houses.

"I know I'll be put in Slytherin." Leo said nonchalantly. "I don't want to be there, but I know it's going to happen."

"Why?" Hermione asked.

"Because of my family. My mum was a Slytherin, her whole family was. And I'm more like her than my dad." He answered.

"You know that doesn't matter, right?" Hermione tried to comfort him. "It all comes down to what you want." She added. "And, if it makes you feel better, I've heard that the hat let's you choose the house you want if you ask for it."

"Really?" Peter questioned. _Damned rat._

"Yeah." She answered looking at Leo. "So, as I've said, it's all about what you want."

"Thanks." Leo smiled looking straight into her eyes. "I'll remember that."

The compartment door opened suddenly and an older looking blonde girl in Hufflepuff robes stepped in.

"The train will reach the station soon. All students should change into their school robes now." She said and left straight away.

"Already?" Hermione questioned slightly panicked. "I need to go find my sister." She added standing up.

After the 'goodbye's' and 'see you soon's', Hermione changed into her school robes and was once again looking for Lily. She found Snape and her sister in a compartment that seemed to have only one other girl present, who looked like a first year with a sweet looking face and had strawberry blond hair accompanied by hazel eyes.

Hermione entered the compartment and waited for Lily's rant.

"Hey, Hermione, where were you?" Lily seemed to be happier. _Major mood swings._ "This is Marlene, by the way. She's also starting Hogwarts this year."

Hermione said hello to the girl and turned back to Lily.

"Sorry about that, I ran into those boys I met in Diagon Alley. We've talked a bit." Hermione answered not sure what Lily's reaction would be.

"Oh, sure that's fine." Lily nodded. "Did you hear? We're almost there!" She seemed to be excited. _I guess that's the reason of her happiness._

Just as she said it, the train started slowing down and before they knew it, came to a complete stop. They took their trunks and joined the mass of students that were on their way out. Somewhere in the distance she could already hear Hagrid calling for the first years.

_It's good to be back._

* * *

**A/N: Thanks for reading! What did you guys think? I'm not that great with dialogue, I hope I didn't mess it up.**

**QUESTION: I'm not sure where I want Leo to end up. I don't want him in Slytherin and I don't mind him in Ravenclaw. But I kind of want him in Gryffindor. I think it could work, since Hermione told him that he can choose what he wants. It could be interesting. All the bro code and what not. What do you think? If you have a strong opinion, leave it in reviews or send me a PM. Thank you!**


	7. Chapter 7- The Sorting

**A/N: Thank you for the continuous support! It means more than you know. And thank you for being patient. I had a lot of trouble with this chapter. I'm not sure why, but it just didn't seem to work.**

**Ps. At the end of this chapter I've provided a list of all of the first year students. I'm not sure I'll use all of them in the story, but I just wanted to write them out anyway. I chose eight students per house, which I think should be acceptable. I know in Harry's year there were ten, but eight made more sense to me given the circumstances. I'm sure you'll recognise some of the names. If you know only part of it, that means I created the other part and that person, most likely, is quite random.**

**Pps. I do not own anything you recognise.**

* * *

Chapter 7 – The Sorting

During the boat ride Hermione was sitting next to Marlene, while Snape sat in front with Lily. Although they all seemed to be in good spirits, Hermione noticed that something was off. Lily was avoiding her yet again. But it was different kind of avoidance than before. Hermione didn't see anger in her sister's face, more like… regret? Was it possible that Lily felt guilty? She considered just asking her sister for explanation, but at that moment Marlene mentioned her last name was McKinnon and that made Hermione give her full attention to the girl. She instantly remembered that name; it was written on the Photograph of the original Order of the Phoenix that Harry always had nearby. After taking a closer look at the girl, Hermione saw the same features, she once saw in that photograph. Sure, her wavy, dirty-blond hair that reached her shoulders, heart shaped face, button nose, and pale skin could apply to quite a few wizarding families, but there was no doubt it was her.

_So this is the girl that Voldemort felt the need to kill personally? Intersting. I wonder why… Was she too smart or powerful? Or maybe she just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time?_

After much thought, Hermione decided to try and befriend the girl. Based on a rather short exchange that the girls had, Marlene was quite intelligent. Moreover, she seemed kind and friendly. Plus, Hermione knew that she would fight on the light side. There was a possibility all that could change now that she was in this time, but it seemed unlikely.

"Guys, look!" Marlene all but shouted. "We're nearly there!"

Sure enough, the castle came into view and the excited murmurs could be heard all around.

The excitement was well-founded, of course. Hogwarts looked even better than Hermione remembered, which might have been due to the fact that the sky was clear and full of starts. Not to mention the moonlight that somehow only lighted the castle and did it in the most magical way. Moreover, the cliff on which the castle stood was simply magnificent. The sharpness and enormousness made it frightening, yet also made you feel safe and protected at the same time. _Extraordinary._

Hermione could understand why first years were always put into boats. The view from the lake was much more awe-inspiring than the one from the carriages. It worked well as a way to form great first impressions. The sight made you want to get to the castle as soon as possible; to the point of considering swimming there because the boats were too slow. Thankfully, the ride was almost over.

Before they could recover from everything they've just experienced, they reached the castle and just like that were greeted and left in the waiting chamber by Professor McGonagall (who gave the same speech about houses becoming their family as she did in Hermione's first year last time around).

While they waited, Hermione could hear most of the students chatting about what they thought the sorting ceremony would entail. Some knew exactly what to expect, while others were freaking out, trying to remember all of the spells they knew. _Reminds me of the good old days. Maybe I should help them out._

Before Hermione could ease their suffering, however, Professor McGonagall returned and led them through the great hall, which was lit by floating candles and looked even more wonderful because of the enchanted ceiling, portraying the night sky.

Hermione was as impressed as the others, if not more. Not because she didn't expect it, but because she almost forgot how stunning her old alma mater could look. What made it even more spectacular and welcoming was the fact that it was filled with excited, carefree students (even though Hermione knew they probably were silently judging her and all the others) and even more eager ghosts (which seemed to be having the time of their lives just chatting with everyone). Hermione was on a verge of tears; it looked perfect. _Let's try and keep it that way._

She didn't get to admire the scenery for long, because once they stopped walking, the Sorting Hat (which nobody even realized was on the stool in front of them) started its song.

_Hello to all, how have you been?_

_Do you know who is talking?_

_'Tis I, the greatest Hat of all,_

_I'm here to do the Sorting._

_There are four different houses here,_

_In our Hogwarts vast._

_Since you will be a part of one,_

_Let me describe them fast._

_Maybe Gryffindor's your home,_

_Where bravery is praised._

_Where the amount of honour, nerve, and justice,_

_Can leave you slightly dazed._

_Or maybe Ravenclaw's for you,_

_Where all are smart and witty._

_If you are original and full of wisdom,_

_Not to join would be a pity._

_Let's not forget dear Slytherin,_

_Where ambition shows its face._

_For the resourceful, cunning, motivated,_

_There is no better place._

_And then there's old good Hufflepuff;_

_It's them whom you can trust._

_If you are loyal, kind, and dedicated,_

_It will be easy to adjust._

_So here we are, about to start,_

_Do you feel prepared?_

_Don't worry, child, for I am here,_

_Please don't look so scared._

_I'll look into your mind real quick,_

_And see where you belong._

_So take a deep breath and put me on your head,_

_It's not going to take that long._

"When I call your name, you will put on the hat and sit on the stool to be sorted." Professor McGonagall said holding a long roll of parchment as soon as the hall finished applauding the hat. "Abbot, Julia" She started.

A nice looking blond girl, who reminded Hermione of her old classmate (_Probably Hannah's aunt or something) _stepped forward and took a seat_. _After about a minute the hat shouted, "HUFFLEPUFF" and so the sorting began.

When Sirius was sorted into Gryffindor, Hermione almost laughed. The whole Slytherin table was in shock, with their mouths hanging open. Not that the other houses weren't surprised, but they got over it quite quickly. Slytherin, on the other hand, just seemed to be unable to process the news. _They probably couldn't wait to get another Black into their ranks_. There seemed to be one girl, however, who looked sort of happy about this whole situation. She looked much older than them, had black curly hair and was rather pleasing to the eye. At first Hermione thought it was Bellatrix, but upon further inspection she came to the conclusion that it was actually Andromeda Black, soon to be Tonks. Her eyes looked just too kind to belong to her deranged sister. Well that, and the fact that according to Hermione's calculations, Bellatrix should have graduated a few years ago. _Thank Merlin for that!_

"'Mione?" Lily disrupted Hermione's inspection of the Slytherin table. "Do you think we're going to get sorted into the same house?" She questioned quietly while the hat sorted Amanda Brocklehurst into Ravenclaw.

"I don't know, Lils." Hermione took her hand. "Siblings are usually sorted into the same house, but even if we're not, it's not going to change anything, alright? We will be fine, Lily. Trust me." She looked her in the eyes and smiled.

"I know we will." Lily smiled in return and seemed content for a second before a guilty expression appeared on her face. "I'm really sorry, 'Mione; for everything."

"Me too." Hermione sighed and continued. "Don't worry about it. We both said some things we didn't really mean. It happens." She shrugged. "For now let's forget about it and enjoy the ceremony. We will talk it over later, okay?" She questioned.

"Okay." Lily nodded and squeezed Hermione's hand. It was that particular gesture rather than the words that made Hermione sure everything between them would get back to normal. Sure, they still would have to talk about it and sort everything out, but Hermione knew that no matter what happened, they would be fine.

"Evans, Hermione." Professor finally reached her name. _Here we go._ She took a deep breath as the hat suggested and put on her Occlumency shields. She only hid her old memories so the hat would have something to work with.

As soon as she sat down, Mrs. McGonagall put the hat on her head, which covered half of Hermione's face.

_"Hmm, what do we have here?" _The hat started its evaluation straight away_. "Interesting mixture. Motivated, definitely cunning… Not really set on self preservation though, are we? Hmm, maybe not Slytherin. But where to put you? Definitely intelligent, Ravenclaw , maybe? Wouldn't be a bad choice, but… Loyal, kind, dedicated… Hmm, Hufflepuff ? Courageous as well, undeniably well developed moral system, great sense of justice. Gryffindor seems to be a perfect match! But what is this? Oh… Wow. Well lookie here. Merlin's protégé, aren't ya? Should be fun." _The hat continued playfully while Hermione almost fell from the chair._ "You know I've sorted him as well. Funny little fellow, impressively intelligent, resourceful beyond belief. Come to think about it, a bit like yourself, don't you think? Maybe we should reconsider Slytherin?" _It questioned not sensing Hermione's discomfort.

_"How.. How did you break through my shields?! That should be next to impossible!" _Hermione started panicking. She was practicing for so long, she considered herself an expert. If she couldn't defend herself against a hat, how was she supposed to protect herself against Voldemort?_ Or Dumbledore, for that matter?_

_"What shields? Oh, the mind thingy you were doing?" _The hat questioned_. "Strong one, I'll admit, but those things don't work on me. I'm a hat, girl. Your shields are against other minds invading your own. I don't have the same mind you do. My analysis works in a different way. It's pure magic." _He finished proudly.

_"Oh." _Hermione felt stupid. She should have known that. Then again, was there a way to protect your mind against a hat?_ "Are you going to tell Dumbledore why I am here?" _She asked hoping the hat would keep her secret. Hermione really didn't want the headmaster to learn about her mission. Not yet, anyway.

_"Even if I wanted to, I couldn't." _The hat reassured her._ "I can see your deepest desires, fondest memories, and greatest ideas, but I cannot discuss them with anyone. I was created that way. Gryffindor knew what he was doing, he didn't want to break the trust. I'm proud to keep students' secrets safe with me, although I have to admit it's a great burden."_

_"Thank you." _Hermione was finally able to relax.

_"You're welcome. But we have more important things to worry about now. Like where to put you?"_

_"Gryffindor, of course; it's where I belong." _Hermione answered boldly.

_"That's true." _The hat agreed._ "I see a lot of different qualities in you, but you're right; you're Gryffindor through and through. Is it the best house for your plan though?" It questioned. "You have a lot of different qualities. I wouldn't be opposed to putting you in any of the four houses, if you asked for it."_

_"I can make Gryffindor work." _Hermione said confidently. She thought about that a lot. To be honest, Slytherin was better theoretically, but as a muggleborn, Hermione would probably have to deal with way too many issues within the house. She really didn't have time for that and Gryffindor was a safe choice already.

_"If you say so. Alright, let's not prolong this then. Better be-" _The hat was about to shout out.

_"Wait!" _Hermione interrupted_. "You've seen my thoughts; you know what some of these people will do in the future. Don't you think you should reconsider their houses? Peter Pettigrew does not belong in Gryffindor. I'm sure you can agree."_

_"I can neither agree nor disagree."_The hat answered_. "If I've sorted him into Gryffindor before, that means he has the required qualities to be there. There is always a reason people are sorted into a specific house. Maybe you could help Peter find his way?" _The hat finished suggestively_._

_"I don't want to." _Came Hermione's clever response_. "What I meant was… I don't know how. He betrayed his best friends. I don't understand why someone would do a thing like that in the first place. How can I help someone whose actions are beyond me?"_

_"Maybe his actions were circumstantial or influenced by emotions? I can see from your memories that he was never truly appreciated." _The hat suggested.

_"Maybe he wasn't. But that isn't really a good enough reason for his actions. Plus, he was still included in their group. His friends helped him to become animagus, for crying out loud!" _Hermione nearly shouted in her mind._ "Do you know how much time they've probably spent just helping that little rat? Maybe the Marauders weren't the nicest people in school, but Peter was still one of them." _She continued her rant.

_"Be that as it may, there still has to be a reason he was sorted into Gryffindor. I know for a fact that you've thought about that too." _The hat stated.

_"You're right, I have thought about that. And I came to a conclusion that you've simply used a process of elimination."_ Hermione said almost angrily.

"Process of elimination?" The hat sounded confused.

_"Think about it,"_ Hermione started, _"Peter is not kind or loyal, so Hufflepuff is a no-no. He's also not highly intelligent or creative, and definitely not original. That's why Ravenclaw doesn't work either. He isn't fit to be a leader; he's not cunning or ambitious… Slytherin is out, right? What is left? Gryffindor."_ She continued in her know-it-all voice. _"If I were you, however, I would still sort him into Slytherin. Peter cared about self-preservation more than any other person I've ever met. Since it's a dominant quality, Slytherin should be the one, not Gryffindor."_

_"Interesting theory, seems probable."_ The hat admitted. _"But I do not use your proposed 'process of elimination'. Quite the opposite, actually. I find the traits within the person, determine the strongest ones and choose the house." _It continued. _"So if you say that Peter had notable self-preservation trait, that suggests he also had even stronger Gryffindor related quality; or qualities, in fact. Therefore, I stand by my decision. It's up to you whether you try to help him find those or not. Maybe he will figure it out all on his own sooner this time." _The hat finished authoritatively.

_"There is no way I could change your mind, is there?" _Hermione tried one last time even though she knew the hat was probably right.

_"I'm afraid not." _The hat answered._ "I see what I see. And what I see, I then evaluate and sort. Speaking of which… GRYFFINDOR!" _The hat shouted loudly into the hall.

_"Without even a goodbye?"_ Hermione questioned sarcastically, but failed to get a response. It seemed the hat was done with her.

She took it off and heard a loud applause from the Gryffindor table. Hermione smiled. She couldn't wait to be reunited with her old house.

She noticed Sirius and went to sit beside him, while Lily took her spot on the chair.

"Truce?" Hermione questioned while holding out her hand.

Sirius looked a few times between her and her hand suspiciously, sighed, and shook her hand. Once.

"Fine." He murmured, which was enough to make Hermione smile. She looked back to her sister, waiting for the hat's decision.

"GRYFFINDOR" The hat announced and Hermione started clapping eagerly with the rest of the house as Lily came to sit next to her (not before sending Snape an apologetic look).

"Congratulations!" Hermione hugged her sister. "I'm so happy we can continue to be roommates."

"Me too!" Lily laughed, but soon frowned. "Do you think Severus will get into Gryffindor too?" She questioned.

Hermione almost snorted. _As if!_

"Why would you want _Snivellus_ in our house anyway?" Sirius asked smugly leaning over Hermione, not giving her a chance to answer.

Lily glared at him while Hermione just rolled her eyes. _Boys._

"Drop it, Sirius." She warned him and turned to her sister. "I think Severus is really set on Slytherin, Lils. It doesn't matter, though; you can still be friends even if you're in different houses." Hermione reassured her sister.

"Yeah, I guess you're right." Lily nodded still shooting daggers at Sirius.

"GRYFFINDOR!" The hat shouted once more and they all turned to see a happy looking Remus Lupin coming their way.

Hermione didn't even have time to congratulate him properly as the hat sorted Mary Macdonald, slightly taller dark-haired girl with chubby cheeks, into their house. What was even more hilarious for everyone present was that before the cheers even died down, Marlene was sorted into Gryffindor as well.

When Peter was sorted into their house, however, Hermione had to hold out a groan. She knew it was probably going to happen, but she still had hope. _It's fine. I'll find away to deal with him._

After that incident, everything went quite smoothly. James was sorted into Gryffindor, as expected, and she could guess where most of the students would be put based on their surnames. To her dismay, Leo was sorted into Ravenclaw. She knew they could still be friends like Lily and Snape (who got sorted into Slytherin), but still couldn't help but feel sad.

The highlight of the sorting (for Hermione, at least), was when McGonagall called Sybill Trelawney to sit on the chair. Hermione had to force herself not to bang her head onto the table at that one. _Are you kidding me right now?_ _I cannot believe I'm going to be forced to take classes with that charlatan. If she so much as predicts rain in my future, I swear I'm going to curse her ass to the next century!_

Because of her rant, Hermione didn't even notice when the sorting was done and Dumbledore stood up to give a speech. Even though the man was slightly manipulative and she had mixed feelings towards him, Hermione couldn't argue that he knew his way around words. The speech was to the point, not too long, with quite a few hilarious and meaningless phrases to keep everyone entertained. He mentioned the forbidden forest, cautioning the students to stay away, introduced the new teacher (DADA, naturally), and reminded them about Filch's demands.

"One more thing, before we start our feast." The man continued. "This year we are also very delighted to inform you that we planted a Whomping Willow on the grounds. It is a very remarkable, yet extremely dangerous magical plant. We would like to warn you to only admire it from afar; that is if you value your lives, of course." He added chuckling. _How is that even funny?_

Hermione couldn't stop herself from glancing at Remus, if only just for a second. _Poor boy._

* * *

After the feast (in which she got to know her fellow students and had a great time), Hermione found herself in her four poster bed talking to Lily, while their other two roommates slept soundly on the other side of the room.

"I thought it wasn't that bad, but after all the things Petunia said to me today… You were right." Her sister's voice started to break. "I shouldn't have done it and I definitely shouldn't have said anything to Petunia about it. To be honest, I have no idea why I did that. Everything just happened so fast, I was so angry." Lily continued. "And then I took it out on you… I'm so sorry, sis. I was so stupid."

"We were both stupid, Lily, don't worry about it." Hermione smiled at her. "What about the other thing, though? You know… about Severus?" She questioned carefully.

"I thought about that too." Lily frowned. "I know he can be a handful sometimes and I'm sorry for trying to make you two friends, even thought you clearly don't get along that well, but… He's still my friend, 'Mione. I'm not trying to blame it on anyone, but this summer Petunia got so resentful and you became somewhat distant… " She tried to make Hermione understand. "I spent a lot of time alone with him and he shared some stuff… We got closer. Not as close as you and I, of course, but still. I don't expect you to be happy about our friendship or join in, just please accept it. He has some issues at home and I think he's just lost." She looked at the ground.

"You think you can save him?" Hermione asked skeptically.

"I'm not sure." Her sister looked doubtful. "But he needs friends. He needs someone to care about him, to help him open up more and to everyone."

"Okay, fine." Hermione sighed. "But if he hurts you or does anything stupid, I reserve the right to punch him in the face. Multiple times" She tried to lighten up the mood.

"I wouldn't expect anything less from my twin." Lily chuckled and then added, "Thank you, 'Mione. Thank you for understanding. It means a lot. I love you, sis." She gave Hermione a hug and went to her own bed.

It seemed like their argument was finally over and everything was settled. Hermione could only hope that her influence would allow Lily's hopes to come true this time around.

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**A/N: We are finally at Hogwarts! Took me ages, didn't it? Do not worry, my awesome readers, the storyline will go faster from now on. Next chapter will be about her training, research, and some of the classes (flying included). Anyhow… Thank you for reading! Please don't make fun of the hat's song too much. It was probably the third time in my life I've tried to rhyme. I didn't do it because I think I'm awesome at it; I did it because it seemed like a lot of fun (which it was). Thanks for understanding. I love you all!**

**First years:**

**Julia Abbott (Hufflepuff), Edmond Avery (Slytherin), Sirius Black (Gryffindor), Edgar Bones (Hufflepuff), Amanda Brocklehurst (Ravenclaw), Victoria Burke (Slytherin), Alecto Carrow (Slytherin), Greta Catchlove (Hufflepuff), Caradoc Dearborn (Ravenclaw), Hermione Evans (Gryffindor), Lily Evans (Gryffindor), Benjy Fenwick (Hufflepuff), Matthew Greengrass (Slytherin), Pandora Hilliard (Ravenclaw), Xenophilius Lovegood (Ravenclaw), Remus Lupin (Gryffindor), Mary Macdonald (Gryffindor), Marlene McKinnon (Gryffindor), Dorcas Meadowes (Ravenclaw), Alexander Mulciber (Slytherin), Arietta Nott (Slytherin), Adrian Perks (Hufflepuff), Peter Pettigrew (Gryffindor), James Potter (Gryffindor), Leo Prewett (Ravenclaw), Gawain Robards (Hufflepuff), Nora Selwyn (Slytherin), **


	8. Chapter 8- The Race

**A/N: So… I'm sorry for the huge delay on this chapter. I have exactly two excuses (not that I should be excused). First one is that I was getting my masters… Still have a dissertation to write, but YOLO, right? Second is that I had to rethink this story a bit. I'm back, though, and I promise to try and do better. As I said before, I intend to finish this. Fingers crossed. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter; for some reason I had a lot of fun writing this. Feel free to follow, favorite, review or none of those. Completely up to you. Love you! **

**Disclaimer: I do not anything you recognise (especially not the description of a certain beast, which was taken directly from the second book)**

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Chapter 8- The Race

It was Friday, which marked the end of the first week at Hogwarts for Hermione…again. She didn't know whether she was surprised or not by the fact that most of the things were the same as in her previous life. With the exception of the elderly lady, who taught DADA and whose name she already forgot, because she'd probably be gone by the end of the year anyway, all the teachers were the same and gave all too similar introductions to their courses. Even Slughorn managed to tailor his speech from Hermione's sixth year into something more first-year friendly and give out house points instead of liquid luck (really the only major change of that class). She also still had a flying lesson to go through today after the lunch break, which, surprisingly, she was rather excited about. So academically wise, Hermione was having a great week; all other kinds of wise… not so much. She was already getting slightly irritated for a few reasons.

Number one; she already managed to find this generation's 'Malfoy'. That is to say, the evil and cruel pureblooded ass, who considered himself to be above all others because his daddy told him so. Who, you ask? _Drum roll, please…_ Alexander Mulciber, that's who. He looked nothing like her childhood bully, what with his barely styled chocolate hair, black eyes and a round face, but annoyed her just the same. During History of Magic he caused quite a few eye rolls from the Gryffindor side by stating that his family was involved with everything that has ever happened and so he would obviously be the best in it. But that was not what made her dislike him. No, what actually got on her nerves were his not so subtle 'dirty', 'inferior' and 'not worthy' comments uttered from behind her during the Potions class, which Hermione chose to ignore for now. Good thing about that situation? It made Hermione beyond happy to see his face at the end of the class, when both sisters made perfect potions and were praised by Slughorn.

Number two; she knew that soon enough the annoyance of _not_ answering questions, without being asked to do so, was going to drive her crazy. Hermione refused to play stupid. She just didn't have it in her, no matter the circumstances. However, she decided that the best course of action would be to keep a sort of low profile in the knowledge department. That's why she didn't raise her hand in class and pretended to struggle a bit before getting the spells right. She looked like a shy, yet hardworking student, just like most of the first years. The only problem with this plan was that answering questions was her 'thing' and it pained her to just sit there and wait for someone (Lily, Remus, Severus – take your pick) to respond.

Number three; she really needed Harry and Ron here - their Quidditch talks, chess games, anything really. Hogwarts was not the same without her boys. Lily was her best friend, there was no question about it and she also enjoyed having normal and nice roommates and the 'girl talk', but… Hermione needed more. She always found herself having more in common with the male population, being 'one of the guys'. She longed for it now. Which brought Hermione to the next reason for her annoyance.

Number four; boys, all of them, were being difficult. Leo seemed too preoccupied with his new friends to say more than 'hi, Rosie' to her. It wasn't really his fault. Hermione understood that at the beginning of the year everyone's first priority was to get acquainted with their own house. After all, she wasn't really seeking Leo's company right now either. Snape was annoying Lily (which in turn annoyed Hermione), by doing exactly the same as Leo. The worst, however, were the Marauders (not counting Mulciber and the Slytherin lot, obviously). Not all of them annoyed her to the same degree, though. James was just playing stupid to get attention, Pettigrew, the brainless rat, was trying his best to get included in whatever the others were doing, Remus avoided getting close to anyone (which made Hermione more sad than annoyed), and that left Sirius. Sirius was a whole different story. He made it his personal mission to ensure that people were laughing with him and, more importantly, at Lily and Hermione. _Guess that was the end of their truce._ Well, to be perfectly honest, the jokes weren't mean; but they were tailored to get a rise out of the sisters. It could be a bit of friendly banter on his part, but it was still annoying. Moreover, it was only the first week and he already tried to jinx them a few times. 'Tried' being the operative word, of course. She didn't go through all that training to be jinxed by a first year. Although, his suspicious inability to prank Lily and her created additional problems – determination on Sirius' part. _Boys. _So now she had to deal with Sirius' obsession to prank her and Mulciber's petty behavior. _Fun. _

Lastly… Number five and really the most recent one of her problems; the library was (sort of) failing Hermione. She once thought that all answers could be found in the Hogwarts library. That, unfortunately, proved not to be the case. Firstly, she tried looking for the Celts book that Merlin mentioned was in the library. The thing was, she couldn't find it. Anywhere. She even asked Madam Pince, creating some excuse about comparing muggle and wizarding literature, but the librarian just looked at her funny and said that they did not have anything on Celts, which didn't even make any sense to Hermione. At the end, she decided to focus on her main mission for now and maybe find another way to get her hands on the stupid book. Perhaps even wait for Merlin to appear in her dreams once again? Nonetheless, the Celts' book, was what she considered a minor setback. She experienced the major setback when she finally came across the passage on the Basilisk she ripped out in her second year:

_"Of the many fearsome beasts and monsters that roam our land, there is none more curious or more deadly than the Basilisk, known also as the King of Serpents. This snake, which may reach gigantic size, and live many hundreds of years, is born from a chicken's egg, hatched beneath a toad. Its methods of killing are most wondrous, for aside from its deadly and venomous fangs, the Basilisk has a murderous stare, and all who are fixed with the beam of its eye shall suffer instant death. Spiders flee before the Basilisk, for it is their mortal enemy, and the Basilisk flees only from the crowing of the rooster, which is fatal to it." _

The setback, of course, being the phrase "the Basilisk flees". What that actually meant, was that not only she had to secure a rooster (or several) and make them crow at the specific moment, but she also had to find a way to trap the Basilisk, so the rooster could do its job, so to speak. _That and not look at it at the same time and avoid the fangs. Piece of cake, right? _She already thought it might be the case, but having the confirmation just made it more real. It also didn't help that the literature on the Basilisk was rather scarce. She really expected more from her trusted library. Not much was known about its serpent magic, how to attract it or even how long it took for the Basilisk to die. As far as the literature went, Parseltongue was the only way to do anything with the slimy beast. She still had to train, still had to plan, still had to go through some memories, still had quite a bit of time to figure the things out too, but this lack of information was killing her. She didn't want to go into the battlefield blinded. However, she had to accept the possibility that some of her tactics might have to rely on guesswork. _Such a Harry thing to do. _

She had to let some steam out, because right now she just wanted to punch something. Or someone.

"Ready to go?" Lily questioned noticing Hermione's lack of interest in lunch and probably the faraway look on her face. "Flying starts in about twenty minutes." She added somewhat anxiously.

"Sure, let's go." Hermione answered standing up a bit too quickly. Flying was a thrill for her ever since she overcame her fear of heights. Well, technically, she was still a bit afraid, but it gave her some sort of extreme satisfaction to be able to face her deepest fear and do it rather well. "Are you nervous about the lesson?" She asked Lily once they left the Great Hall.

"Sort of." Her sister tilted her head as if in deep thought. "I'm really excited to finally learn how to fly after reading about it for ages, but I just know I'm going to fall on my arse and I really don't want to give Sirius more material for jokes." She rolled her eyes.

"Plus, it's with Slytherin." Hermione pointed out.

"That too." Lily nodded. "Not that they are all bad, but I could definitely live without a few of them."

"I know what you mean." Hermione couldn't argue with that.

They were the first ones to reach the Quidditch pitch so they helped Madam Hootch to set up, who, by the way, looked just as crazy as Hermione remembered with her gray hair sticking in every direction and those yellow hawk-like eyes.

Once the rest of the Gryffindors and Slytherins showed up, Madam Hootch didn't waste any time turning on her teaching mode.

"Flying," she started seizing everyone up. "Is more than a skill you need for playing Quidditch. It is a necessity, really. A perfect alternative to apparition or the flu network. There are also places which are only accessible by brooms. You will learn that soon enough if you haven't already, so I will waste no more time on that." She stated with her strong no-nonsense voice. "Now, stand beside the broom, stick your hand above it and say 'UP'" She instructed.

Hermione was delighted when her broom jumped to her hand. It was expected, of course, given her experience after the war, but it didn't lessen the joy. She noticed that Lily wasn't as bad as Hermione used to be. Her sister's broom went almost half way up before falling. Looking around she could also see that quite a few people were having similar problems, Pettigrew and Snape being the least successful ones – their brooms did not react at all.

Once most of the people got a hang of it, Madam Hootch went to everyone individually explaining how to properly mount a broom and some basic maneuvers. After that, just like in the past, she asked them to kick off the ground, hover a bit and come down. Hermione was having some serious déjà vu, especially when she heard a scream and saw Pettigrew going way too high and falling down. She then realized that he reminded her a lot of Nevile; except that Nevile was a hero and Pettigrew was, most definitely, not.

"What happened?" Madam Hootch gave Peter a stern look and then looked him up and down. "Are you hurt?"

"I… I don't know." He whimpered trying to stand and failing. "My ankle hurts."

Madam Hootch took her wand and whispered something that Hermione recognized as a diagnostic spell.

"Alright boy, seems like you've got yourself a broken ankle. I'll need to take you to the hospital wing." She concluded and turned to the rest of the class. "Do NOT attempt to fly before I get back or I'll have you on the next train." She looked at all of them in turn. "Those of you who had difficulty calling the broom, try it again until you can do it perfectly. And that is ALL you are allowed to do." She finished and left with Peter.

Once they were out of sight, chatter erupted, flying forgotten for the time being by most. Lily excluded, of course.

"What am I doing wrong?" Her sister questioned as her broom dropped again just as it reached her hand. "I was able to do it when Madam Hootch was here."

"Honestly, Lily, I don't think you're doing anything wrong." Hermione started. "You just need to concentrate and be confident. I heard that broomsticks don't respond well to hesitation or fear." Her voice became almost a whisper. _Harry, I heard it from Harry. _

"Alright. Okay, I just need to not overthink this then." Lily said taking a few deep breaths.

"Overthink this all you want, Evans, it's not going to help." They heard a voice coming from the Slytherin side. Mulciber. Hermione knew this was not going to end well. "Mudbloods simply do not deserve to fly and your broom knows it." He finished with a chuckle and a few of the Slytherins followed suit.

There were multiple intakes of breath from the Gryffindor side when he said it. Lily seemed angry as well. She didn't really know what the term meant, but Mulciber made it obvious that it was far from a compliment. What was also obvious was that Sirius and James were about to take action. They might make fun of the sisters or even dislike them a bit, but this was about protecting their house and those in it. Hermione appreciated it, but she had different plans for the self-centered pureblood. All her frustration from the week slowly coming to the surface.

"Really, Mulciber?" She gave him a skeptical look. "You honestly think you are better than us because of something as insignificant as blood?" She shook her head and turned it to the side as if evaluating him. "Care to prove your little theory?" She raised her eyebrows.

"What do you suggest?" He spat as he moved forward.

"How about a race?" She suggested.

"A race?" Mulciber laughed and this time most of the Slytherin joined. Even the Gryffindors seemed more than unsure. "You want to race _me_?"

"What a shocker, right?" She rolled her eyes. "One lap. We start and finish here. No need for wagers since we know what we are trying to prove. Are you in?" She gave him a smirk worthy of a Malfoy.

" Oh, I'm in." He said, this time with no hint of amusement in his voice.

"What are you doing? You're going to get expelled! And killed! You don't even know how to fly." Lily tried to put some sense into her. Hermione just smiled. She remembered saying almost the same thing to Harry when he went after Malfoy. Now she understood him. Although, Hermione was doing it out of pride and frustration; Harry's reason was better.

"I'm not going to get expelled or killed, Lils." She tried to reassure her sister. "At worst I'll be asked to join the Quidditch team." She chuckled.

"What?" Lily looked at her as if she was insane.

"Never mind" Hermione waved her off. Sometimes she forgot she was the only one who knew. "I'll be fine, don't worry."

"This is stupid, 'Mione." Her sister tried one last time.

"Trust me, I know." She chuckled before taking her broom and moving towards Mulciber. She didn't move far, however, because her path was blocked by Sirius.

"You have no flying experience; he is going to crush you." He simply stated.

"Thank you for your confidence in me" Hermione rolled her eyes. She really needed to get rid of that habit.

"I'm just stating the facts. He knows how to fly, you don't." He said in the same even tone although there was a hint of… concern?... in his eyes.

"Can we save this for later?" She asked. "I would really like to go and win the race now." She smiled with her not-so-innocent smile.

Sirius exhaled and turned sideways to let her through. "Good luck." He whispered just before she was out of earshot.

She did not know what was making her do this. Lily was right, the race was stupid. And Hermione was not stupid. She would never have done this in her past, even if she knew how to fly. But this week was all kinds of frustrating. Scratch that, these past few months were. And Mulciber was not making it any easier. His mudblood comment just reminded her of Malfoy and all the stupid pureblooded ideas that led to the war in the first place. After all, Voldemort's army was full of mindless idiots who thought themselves better than everyone else. She was not having it. She would destroy that snakeface's army one bigoted, narcissistic daddy's boy at a time.

Except that as she was nearing Mulciber and the 'starting line', she started feeling anxious. What if she forgot how to fly? What if her fear of heights came back? Technically, she hasn't been on the broom for the last eleven years, so both of those were a possibility. And Mulciber could be a good flyer for all she knew. And then there was, of course, the possibility of getting expelled. _NO. None of that. You made your bed so lie in it. That stupid boy needs to learn some manners and you're going to teach him. If you lose, you lose. But you need to give it your absolute best shot._

"You both ready?" James took his assumed referee post. He was looking straight at Hermione with a similar look that Sirius gave her just moments before. Once they both nodded, he continued. "Okay then. One lap. The race ends once one of you passes me. No funny business." He gave a dirty look to Mulciber. "Mount your brooms."

She could do this. She was a good flier and she was desperate for something good to finally happen to her. _Perfect combination. _She mounted her broom with a new-found confidence.

"On three." James announced. "One, two…Three!" He shouted.

Of course, Mulciber left on two, which wasn't really surprising but still startled her a bit. She could just about hear James' angry shout of "that son of a…" before she went after Malfoy's reincarnation.

Flying was really like riding a bike, she soon realized. You couldn't really forget how to do it. The wind was already messing up her hair and making her eyes water. She loved it. It felt liberating and thrilling. At this moment she held her life in her hands. Literally. One wrong move and she could smash into the stands or fall and break something. In her past, that thought caged her. Now, however, it was as scary as it was empowering. _Must be the Gryffindor in me_. Honestly, if she wasn't racing she would probably have a 'Titanic' moment right about now.

Speaking of racing, though. Once she finally caught up to Mulciber (about one third of the race in), she really couldn't help herself.

"What was that, Mulciber? Thought the only way to win against me was by cheating? Well, I cannot agree with you more." She laughed.

"Shut up, mudblood." He spat and tried to kick her off the broom. _Ha! Good luck with that. _

"Bye, Mulciber." She gave him a sly grin before taking over.

She couldn't believe she was winning. Granted, it was against an eleven year old, but it still made her feel like she could take on the whole world. She had to give it to Mulciber, however. He was just behind her and he was a rather good flyer. A good cheater too, apparently; he tried all kinds of tricks including (but not limited to) trying to pull the end of her broom. Unfortunately for him, though, she was better and managed to outmaneuver him, gaining a bit more distance at the same time. Just before the end he also tried some verbal abuse, but it was too late. Just as the last syllable of 'mudblood' left his mouth, she passed James.

She won.

It was a small victory; rather insignificant in the grand scheme of things. It really had nothing to do with her mission. And she didn't think it would change how Mulciber or other bigoted fools would look at her or other muggleborns. Actually, it would probably make them hate her even more. But she could not force herself to care about that. It was a start and it was a win. Really the first win in her new life. She needed it to prove to herself that she could do something right.

Tomorrow she would train and do as much research as she could, but today… Today was for her.

When she got off the broom there was about ten seconds of absolute silence and gaping before Gryffindors erupted into cheers. All of them, except Sirius and Lily. Sirius was looking at her like she was a puzzle. She couldn't blame him; her win was rather unlikely. Lily, on the other hand, looked at her with relief and a bit of a teary expression. It really just dawned on Hermione that her sister was probably worried about her. A lot more worried than she was when Harry went after Malfoy. _Damn. _

She went to her sister and hugged her.

"I'm sorry you were scared for me." Hermione whispered.

"I cannot believe you did that." Lily muttered back. "I thought you were going to kill yourself."

"Don't be so dramatic, sis." Hermione chuckled releasing her sister. "At least I won." She wiggled her brows in a playful manner.

"You're worse than James." Lily shook her head but cheered up.

"Hey! I resent that." James appeared right next to them. "Congratulations, by the way. You're a natural!" He patted Hermione on the back.

"Uhm. Thanks." She gave a small nod. _Yeah, sure… Natural. _

James turned towards the rest of their house.

"Okay, Gryffindors, let's give another round of applause for our star of the hour!"

"What's going on here?" They were startled by Madam Hootch entering the field. _Oh, Merlin. How much did she see? _Hermione froze on the spot.

"Nothing, professor." Lily recovered first. "We were just… uhm.. celebrating the fact that we learned how to fly?" She made it sound like a question.

"Oh." Madam Hootch furrowed her brows. "Well, do not celebrate just yet. You still have a lot to learn." She motioned to the brooms. "Everyone! Let's repeat the exercise we did before the accident. Hoover and come down." She instructed and Hermione let out a breath. They got away with it.

The rest of the class passed without an incident, although it was easy to notice the tension between the houses and catch looks of pure triumph directed towards Mulciber and the rest of his lot.

Unsurprisingly, when the girls were passing the Slytherins after the class, Mulciber stepped in front of Hermione.

"This isn't over." He spat.

Hermione gave a shrug.

"I know."

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**A/N: Draaaama haha I was thinking about different endings to the race, but I just felt like Hermione needed a win. Don't we all? Anyhow, what did you guys think? Once again, I love you all and I hope you're having a wonderful summer! **


	9. Chapter 9- The Finishing Touches

**A/N: 'Tis the season to be jolly… Happy holidays, everyone! And here's my present to you – a new chapter! Yay, right? As presents go, this, of course, is a horrible one. Because, you know, it should have been given half a year ago, but… I got my masters, so that's something, right? Anyway, I still love you (even if you're mad) and I wish you all the merriest Christmas (or whatever else you might be celebrating this season) ever and the happiest New Year! Thank you for your support and I hope you'll enjoy the new chapter! **

**Ps. we're going to be covering a few different topics in this chapter, so there will be some jumping action going. Sorry. But it will cover two months worth of storyline and prepare us for the Basilisk chapter, so I think it should be worth it.**

**Pps. I cannot write in Hagrid's accent. Actually, I cannot write in any accent haha Just imagine his voice when you read his parts. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. It should be painfully clear by now lol**

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Ch 9- The Finishing Touches

"I need a room to train in. I need a room to train it. I need a room to train in." Hermione was walking in front of the Room of Requirement in deep concentration, looking crazier than Barnabas the Barmy behind her. After the race with the Malfoy wannabe, she felt indestructible and wanted to use that energy for something productive. So here she was, in the middle of the night, trying to enter the room that no student should know about, let alone a first year muggleborn who "just" found out about Hogwarts. Explaining herself to Dumbledore would be _oh_ so fun to watch. Thank Merlin the shinny door appeared as soon as she finished her third walk-by.

The room she entered reminded her a lot of the one they used to conjure back in the DA days: torches, bookcases, cushions on the ground - all the works. _Major flashbacks. _It even had that extra-medieval feeling to it.

_Okay, let's do this._

Hermione, of course, had a plan already constructed in her mind. A very detailed plan, in fact. If everything worked out, she would enter the chamber in less than two months. _Hopefully exit it as well. _

First, however, she had to test her skills.

She started with simple Charms, like _Wingardium Leviosa, _moving on to Transfiguration and simple curses, then repeating them without a wand. Wandless magic was an extremely useful skill to have, particularly in dire situations when the wand was taken away. It also was rather exhausting and definitely not as powerful; hence, most of the wizards did not care enough to learn it. _Better for me. _

It took a bit of effort, but after an hour she felt the progress was adequate for the first session and so Hermione repeated the process with more complex spells.

Straight away she could notice the changes in her magic. Aurora was right when she said magic would travel with her. Hermione was just as right when she thought something was different. Not different bad, but definitely different; especially when attempting wandless magic. She knew her magic well and it _was _her magic, yet not completely. Hermione couldn't quite put her finger to it, which made her think that maybe she was simply being paranoid, but her magic felt more… earthy? _Is that even a thing? _Nevertheless, it was a part of her now and so she would just have to make it work in the next two months. All in all, she felt rather confident. Her spell-work obviously still needed quite a bit of work, but it was definitely not bad; especially considering that she was using memories of her past life as a guide, meaning no muscle memory whatsoever.

Now the physical training was an actual nightmare. She knew all the moves and techniques, which was great and would help immensely in the future, but right now her body was not trained and it showed the moment she attempted push-ups. It seemed she had to go back to the very basics and build up her stamina.

A lot of wizards wouldn't bother with that as well, of course. She _knew _Voldemort wouldn't. _Merlin, can you imagine the Dark Lord doing cardio? _The thought was laughable. But Hermione was nothing, if not an overachiever. Physical strength, although pushed aside by many, was the key to victory. Not only did it help to avoid curses, but since spell-casting was an energy draining activity, it also helped to hold out for a bit longer during a fight. Plus, it could help avoid the Basilisk's murderous stare in case her plan fell through, which was a distinct possibility. _Nothing motivates you better than a death threat. _

So, two hours and one obstacle course later (thank you, room that is basically a genie), Hermione was finally happy with her first session and ready to sneak back. That was the easiest part (minus the stairs), since she knew how to cast a disillusionment charm. She only had to remove it for the Fat Lady.

Lucky for Hermione, the woman was too sleepy to remember it was almost four o'clock in the morning and her fellow Gryffindors liked their beauty sleep.

* * *

"Hey, Mr-uhm-Hagrid, wait up." Hermione was running after the half-giant, who was almost at his hut.

Her next phase of the serpent killing plan was to befriend her old friend so she could get close to his animal pen without raising suspicion. It would take around half an hour of uninterrupted work to duplicate his roosters and take the originals. Half an hour was a long time, considering that Hagrid almost always was in his hut and a loud enough squeak at night might alert him. She also thought about ways to avoid this, such as taking only one rooster and duplicating it multiple times, but according to her research, cloned items only had echoes of attributes of the original. In other words - it could look like a rooster and sound like a rooster, but might not kill the stupid serpent as an actual rooster. Since she decided that her plan required multiples (just in case), obtaining Hagrid's trust was plan A. In Hermione's previous life, she often offered to feed the animals in his pen, while he was doing other chores and he never checked on her or her work. She hoped this would happen in this timeline as well. It sounded like she was just using him, but in her mind Hermione knew she would befriend him sooner or later even if she didn't have to. She loved his friendship – rock cakes and all.

Hagrid looked at her, confused for a second and then smiled.

"Little Gryffindor! Do you need help?"

"Well, I am a first year and this magic thing is new to me since I'm a muggleborn, so I just thought I would -" she looked down beside him, "Oh, Merlin, is that Fang?!" she squeaked. Really, she couldn't help herself. The puppy looked only about four months old and was beyond adorable.

"Yep." Hagrid answered with adoration in his voice, but then looked at her suspiciously. "How did you know the pup's name?"

"Oh." _Think, Hermione. _"I just heard from my fellow classmates that the groundskeeper had a puppy named Fang." And then for it to seem more believable, she added, "you are the groundskeeper, right?"

"That's me. Hagrid." He said proudly and reached to shake her hand.

"Hermione Gr-Evans." She answered trying to think of what to say next. "I'm new here and I thought I could ask you to maybe tell me some stories about Hogwarts? As a groundskeeper you must know a lot about the forbidden forest, right? I think it's fascinating. Of course, I read about it in _Hogwarts, A History, _but the author really did not go into detail at all, which was really frustrating since everything else is rather thorough." Well, at least that was true. She did get angry when she read about the forbidden forest for the first time. "Anyway, you must know so much more about it since, you know, you've been there. I would love to hear about it from someone who actually has first-hand knowledge."She settled on the know-it-all route trying to appeal to the teacher inside of Hagrid.

He stared at her for a second, trying to process her words and then beamed.

"Of course! I love talking to students who want to know more about the grounds." He seemed excited. "Come on in, I'll make you some tea."

Hermione enjoyed chatting with Hagrid again. He was the same as in the future, maybe even more carefree now. Definitely had a teacher's gene in him. He talked about different species that lived in the forest and about his experiences with them. After the tea was finished, Hermione promised to visit him and Fang again soon and bring Lily as well, since she was more of an animal lover.

_Plan A might just work._

* * *

The next few weeks were pretty much the same – training, researching useful spells, visiting Hagrid (with and without Lily), and pretending to study. She already helped Hagrid with the pen, but he was always there - observing, teaching. She suspected it would take another week or so for him to let her do it alone, which was just fine with Hermione. She still had time.

Her plan was to enter the Chamber of Secrets on Halloween. It was as good a night as any, if not better. Students would crash early after the sugar rush and the ghosts would have their own after-party going in the dungeons, which might help her to avoid detection better. Plus, Filtch would probably be occupied with the annual Peeves' prank. Night quest also meant that it was less likely for a random student to enter the bathroom while the tunnel was open.

Yes, she had a plan for everything she could think of. If Harry could see her now, he would laugh. '_Nothing ever goes according to plans, Hermione' _he would say. And he would be right, of course. Nothing they planned had ever worked properly. However, it was still better to have a plan than to jump into it head-first, right? The entire wizarding world depended on her without even knowing about it. She sort of owed them to at least have a plan.

And if all of her plans failed? Well, she had a plan for that too. Two letters that would be revealed once she was dead. One to Lily – apologizing and explaining the situation without any actual explanations, and one to Dumbledore – providing information. She thought about following through with her idea of a diary activated by blood magic, but it was too soon to give Lily the responsibility. If she survived, she would definitely revisit that. For now, Dumbledore was her only option. _Ha! _The irony of relying on his help after, yet not before her death did not escape Hermione. _Oh well. _

She started on his letter first, because Lily's letter would be undeniably more emotionally exhausting. For the first ten minutes she was just wondering how to explain her knowledge to the headmaster. _No need for him or anyone to know about her true origin. _The next ten minutes were spent hating herself for pretending to be someone she did not even believe in – a seer. _What a joke._ Then, she started listing everything she could remember. Hermione did not realize how much she actually knew about the first wizarding war, before she put it on paper. All the names of the allies and the enemies, crucial event dates. The information would be a game changer for both sides. _Knowledge is the true power._

Finally, ten pages in, she reached the most valuable part – Horcruxes.

This should have been the easiest one to write, right? She knew everything about them, right? Wrong. Hermione missed a very important detail. She did not know where exactly the diadem was. She didn't know where the easiest (supposedly) to find piece of Voldy's soul was! Oh, sure she knew it was it the Room of Requirement. She knew it was 'where everything was hidden'. However, she also knew that the place was bigger than ten national libraries and wasn't even sort of organized. She only knew the general direction of where the diadem was supposed to be and, really, who knew if it was even there. There was a twenty five year difference. Twenty five years, in which anyone could have moved that stupid diadem from its original place to where Harry found it for the first time before, you guessed it, moving it. _Damn. _She should have thought of that. _First the sword, now this?_ Didn't the box say she was ready?

Hermione knew she should focus on the snake for now. There were only two weeks left until Halloween. She did not have time for other plans.

However, she couldn't focus.

There were still two hours left until curfew.

She would just go to the Room of Requirement and see if she could find it.

An hour tops.

She had to know. It would distract her otherwise.

"Stupid Dumbledore and his stupid letter." She mumbled before leaving. _Really mature, Hermione._

* * *

"Oh My… Merlin!" The room of hidden things was bigger than she remembered; messier too. What if she couldn't find it? It could take decades to sort through all of this.

She tried Accio, which she knew wouldn't work. She tried asking the Room for the diadem, which she also knew wouldn't work, but was desperate enough to try anyways. She couldn't prolong the obvious – she had to look for it without magic.

_I can do this. I _will_ do this._

Three hours later she was ready to admit defeat. She didn't know if her memories failed her or if the warlock's bust just wasn't here yet, but she couldn't find it. Her hair was messy, her stockings were ripped and her blouse was dirty. _When did that happen? _

"I'll figure it out. _After_ the basilisk. I will have time then. At least now I know. And there has to be a way to find it. Voldy had to have a plan to find it, if he needed it. I just need some sort of a map of this place so I could think of a way to locate the diadem. Not a problem." Just as she was finishing her pep talk with herself, a compass appeared in her hand; a regular, simple compass that pointed north. The room was trying to help her.

_How on earth would a compass help me?_

_There must be a way, though. The room wouldn't just give it to me a random compass, if it couldn't help. _

The wheels were turning in Hermione's head. She would have to modify it, of course, but how? She could link similar energies, but then she would need something that would react with the diadem. Another Horcrux? _Should work. _That meant she would have to go after the ring when the basilisk was killed, which wasn't perfect, but… _Wait a second. I could… Yes. Yes! It would work. _

"Thank you!" She shouted at the room, before running back to Gryffindor.

Hermione felt brilliant. She had a theory and a theory was enough for now. _First the Basilisk and then the experiments. _She knew her priorities. However, she also couldn't deny it was good to visit the room of hidden things. Hermione felt better now, calmer, and more confident in her mission than before her small anxiety attack. She could even put her theory in her letter now. _Good things come to those who panic it seems._

She didn't even realize she was inside the common room, before she heard a familiar voice.

"Where were you?" Sirius asked rising from the couch eying her up and down. He was the only student left. He also had a text book in his hand, which confused Hermione enough to forget his question for a second. _Sirius was studying? _

"What? Oh. Yes. I was… in the library." She almost stammered.

"In the library?" He drawled.

"Yes." _Stay strong, Hermione. _

"You were in the library after curfew?" He raised his eyebrows in a true 'Sirius' fashion.

_Damn. How late was it? _

"Yes, well, I fell asleep." Not like that hadn't happened to her before.

"You fell asleep in the library?" He continued his attack.

"Are you just going to keep turning my answers into further questions?" She sighed. "Yes, I fell asleep in the library, I was tired. Actually, I am still tired, so if you don't mind-" she tried to walk past him.

He, of course, blocked her.

"One last question."

"Do your best." Hermione rolled her eyes.

"What happened to your clothes?" Sirius smirked. He knew he got her.

She didn't even have to look down to know she forgot to fix herself up after looking for the diadem. _Rookie mistake. _

"I fell." She said the first excuse that came to her.

She saw that he didn't believe her and was ready to continue his questioning. _Tough luck. _

"Are we done now? I'm really rather tired." She said before he could open his mouth and yawned for a better effect.

There was some sort of emotional battle going on in Sirius' eyes, but after a few seconds he relented.

"Sure. Good night, Evans." He stepped aside.

"Night, Black." She walked away before letting out a breath she didn't realize she was even holding. _That was… What was that?_

* * *

Although the diadem and Sirius took her mind off of the chamber for a bit, she returned to her plans with vengeance for the next two weeks and everything seemed to be going smoothly for the first time. Just as she predicted, Hagrid started allowing her to feed his animals on her own just a few days ago and she had everything ready to go. All she needed now was to ask him to let her help, which she was planning to do today. If everything went smoothly, she would take his seven roosters and finish the major preparations tonight, so the rest of the week left until Halloween would be for practice only. _Please let this work._

She was on her way to Hagrid's hut, when she noticed the man himself coming towards her. _Come on._

"'Mione! It's good I ran into to you. Do you mind feeding the animals for me? I wouldn't ask, but I really need to go talk to Filtch and I don't know how long I'll be." Hagrid said in a defeated voice. Everybody hated Filtch.

"Of course, Hagrid. I was going to offer you help anyways. Good luck with him." She added with an apologetic expression although in her mind she was jumping up and down. There was really no better feeling than when things went the way they were supposed to go; or in this case- better.

"I'll need it." He mumbled. "I'm sorry for leaving you to work alone."

"Don't worry. You know I love doing it." She smiled. This was perfect.

Hermione all but whistled on her way to the pen.

After forty minutes, she was basically done. This part really wasn't that complicated. All she did was duplicate the original seven, stun them, put them in the cages, shrink them, and, finally, put those cages into her one-shoulder bag that had undetectable extension charm on it. Honestly, if she wasn't trying to make the duplicates identical to the originals so that Hagrid wouldn't notice, she could have been done in ten minutes.

Hermione let out a deep breath once she finished. _Small victory. _The copies would last for at least a week so that was good enough. She could only hope not to be the cause of the demise of any of Hagrid's precious roosters. He would be devastated.

Hopefully the saying 'practice makes perfect' was true.

* * *

_"__Serpensotia!_ _Circum!_ _Ennervate!" _Hermione was going at her 'routine' for hours. She was exhausted, famished, and desperately in need of a shower, but she couldn't deny the progress that she made in the last few days. She was finally ready for the chamber.

It would, of course, be naïve to think that everything was going to happen as perfectly as it did during her last practice (she was, after all, using a fake snake for training), but she still had rather high hopes for her plan. After all, lesser ideas have managed to keep her friends and her alive in the past. She was done. _Thank Merlin._

She still had to stay up, until the sun rose, just so she could stupefy the roosters just before they were about to crow, but that couldn't have been avoided. It was really beyond fortuitous that she still had a full night of sleep left before entering the chamber.

In the meantime, it was time for the hardest task.

_Dear Lily,_

_Attached to this is a letter that needs to be given to Dumbledore. Please make sure you give it to him as soon as possible; preferably before you continue reading this. Tell him that the password to read it is his sister's name. I only trust you with this task. _

_Anyhow._

_I really wish for you to never read the words that I am about to write, but not all wishes come true, right?_

_If you are reading this, it means that I have failed. If you are reading this, it means that I am no longer with you. I am so sorry, sis. So sorry._

_I know it does not make a lot of sense of why or how. I wish I could tell you everything and in proper detail, but not everything can be explained in a letter. Just know that it was never my intention to leave you or our family so soon and that I love you all so much._

_I am someone that knows what the future holds – a seer, if you need a name for it. And I have seen things that need to be prevented, Lily. Things that I thought I could prevent._

_I saw a war, sis; a wizarding war that would cause devastation for decades to come. I had to try and stop it. It's task that was mine to complete. Please understand. I know it might sound crazy, but I promise you it's true. Hopefully, Dumbledore will explain this better to you after he reads his letter. _

_I do not want you to mourn me, Lils. I don't want anyone to mourn me. Live your life to the fullest and take everything it gives you. Open your heart and let others in. Never let anyone tell you you're not good enough and always try to be the best version of yourself. You have so much to give this world, Lily, you have no idea. Do not let my downfall be the reason for yours. That's all I hope._

_Lastly, if the time comes when Fidelius Charm is to be put on your home, do not trust the rat. It's another thing that might sound mad right now, but if nothing changes, you'll understand soon enough._

_I know you might hate me for leaving you, but I hope one day you will understand why I had to risk it. I love you, sis. Please know that I'll always be there to watch over you; if not in person, then at least in spirit._

_Yours,_

_Hermione_

She was out of tears by the end of the letter. Lily could not read this. Ever. Hermione had to succeed.

* * *

**A/N: What a charming way to end the chapter, don't you think? Sorry for that. Next will be the Basilisk one, which will hopefully take way less than half a year to upload, now that I actually have a bit of time on my hands. **

**This was an extremely irritating chapter to write btw. I had to change it twice, since my initial plan turned out not to make any sense at all. That is also why there is a bit of jumping happening. Hopefully it wasn't too annoying. Let me know what you guys thought.**

**Follow, favorite, review, ****or just read! Or if you hate it – don't read. You know I like you just as you are! (That was a Bridget Jones reference haha).**


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